Witchy Waves London
by Barro Cha Cha
Summary: Hermione Granger is a busy modern witch in London who repeatedly realizes she has no time for love. Percy Jackson is a weathered demigod who arrives at London with hopes to flee his heavy titles for once. The two meet at one strange pub while drinking. They spend a night together in the most spontaneous manner. The Daily Prophet paparazzi makes a story out of it. [T to be safe]
1. Dream Teller's Pub

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

 **A/N: So... I'm sorry I'm not continuing my previous works. I'm kind of stuck doing all kind of college sh*t. I just needed a break now, and because going back to my other stories requires time to review the story and remembering my old plans on the plot, etc. I decided to just make a new one.**

 **To all the Percabeth shippers, I give you a forewarning. This piece ships Percy Jackson/Hermione Granger. I mean I ship Percabeth too, I ship all kinds, actually, but this one I wanted to make a crossover ship.**

 **If you want to suggest anything, please leave comment through a message or a review.**

 **Thanks, and enjoy!**

The pub was mildly crowded. It was not without noise, but the buzz from the conversations was pleasant enough to be ignored. Hermione Granger sat there, sipping on her ale, and stared at nothing. It was difficult to think anything after what she had to go through today. Another relationship had gone to rubbish. She had to end it for the third time for the same reason. She had no time for a luxurious, time-consuming relationship at the moment. She was busy enough pursuing her career. It was a cruel cycle of a wishful thinking, a realization of a mistake, a breakup, a determination to never repeat it again, and then another delusion that perhaps she had finally found true love.

Breaking up was emotionally exhausting each time, and she regretted ever actually believing in the existence of love. The first time she believed it, she was with Ron. What she was mistaken about was that the affection she had for Ron was not that of a lover but of a family. When she had realized that and when Ron had realized it as well, the two had decided to return to the friend-family relationship they had before. It was the most peaceful ending of one relationship and a great rebirth of another. It was Hermione's grave mistake to think that all break up's were going to be so peaceful.

The second time she thought she was in love but not enough to sacrifice her work hours, when she tried to confess the truth, about her desire to end it, her wizarding boyfriend had yelled and thrown hexes at her (but missed because of an angry, shaky aim). Ron and Harry, who played the role of her brothers, had to appear and restrain the wizard. When they managed to do so, he broke down in tears.

The third time, which was only hours ago, Hermione tried to be gentle and not so straightforward, but the wizard she met was a very smart man. He was practical, and he, very quickly understanding the essential message of "I don't have time for this" from Hermione's lengthy speech, nodded and replied, "likewise." It was a frighteningly simple process, and Hermione had felt a kind of void as she watched the wizard turn around and walk away from her without one glance back at her.

It seemed futile. The meaning of relationship, or love, that is. And yet, she knew already that she would illogically "fall in love" again, given the opportunity to do so. So she sulkily sipped her mug of ale in this strange pub, to which she walked in spontaneously on her way home, and mourned for the inevitable demise of her next relationship.

* * *

Percy Jackson roamed around London until his legs were too tired to walk anymore. He paused in front of Dream Teller's Pub. He only had few pounds jingling in his pocket.

 _I could probably get a drink of something._

He walked into the pub and, relieved to find it not so packed, approached the bartender. It was his first time to order at the bar, but he pulled out the coins in his pocket and asked, trying his best not to fidget.

* * *

"A pint of Corona please?"

* * *

Said the man who just walked into the bar area. Hermione looked up, intrigued by his distinctly American accent. It was not her first time witnessing an American, but the sort of timidness in the voice, which was uncharacteristic of the usually boisterous manner she had seen from other Americans, made her curious.

The man, who seemed to be an ordinary muggle (as soon as she deduced that much, Hermione gave herself a mental smack because, of course he was, she was at a muggle pub!), had really dark hair, almost black, or maybe it was actually black, it was too dark inside the pub to tell, and the average tanned skin of an American she noticed before. No British, especially no Londoner, could acquire such a healthy tan under the alltime clouded sky. His face was charming enough, with a sharp chin and all. He was wearing a soft looking, ivory turtleneck sweater and a dark pair of jeans with vertical stripes. His shoes were black converse with very worn out shoelaces. In his hand, he held a long navy coat, and his other hand lied on the bar table, the fingers tapping in an unfamiliar rhythm.

* * *

"Um… do you need something?"

* * *

Percy felt the woman next to her looking at him. Exactly how or why he did not know, only assuming that it was at least partly because of his accent. Nonetheless, he did not like to be stared at. He was almost 100% certain that this woman did not need anything from him, but nonetheless he asked so, so that he can break her stare.

The woman, startled by his sudden interruption, looked up. She had curly brown hair, and warm brown colored eyes that glistened under the amber lights in the pub. She reminded Percy of his mother, which was oddly disturbing. She was wearing a kind of hooded robe, which was weird to him but must have been the newest fashion trend of London or something as far as he could guess, and underneath it, she wore a traditional match of a sweater, a shirt, and a tie. The sweater was crimson, the shirt white, and the tie was dark rusty brown.

The woman's surprise faded away slowly, and her cheeks seemed to gradually turn dark with red tinges. She was embarrassed, Percy realized.

* * *

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare so much."

* * *

Hermione apologized immediately. She must have drunk more ale than she thought to have so rudely stare at the stranger for so long. She only meant to observe in a subtle manner, but apparently it was not so subtle at all. The man gave an amused chuckle as he sat down next to her. The bartender handed him his drink, a pint of Corona, and after thanking the bartender and handing him the money, the man turned back to her and smiled.

"It's fine. I guess my accent kind of stands out over here."

"Well, it did catch my attention, but no, I just think I'm a bit drunk, honestly. I'm really sorry."

Hermione shook her head and pointedly pushed her mug away a bit. The man laughed, not fully happily but somewhat tiredly, like a tortured man finding a temporary relief. He offered his hand to her, for a shake.

* * *

"I'm Percy."

* * *

Percy's former annoyance was gone entirely. He understood that the small woman in front of him did not mean to judge him at all by staring like that previously. He usually offered handshake to make friends and sometime to stop another person from continuously apologizing. It was a little bit of both this time; he wanted to appear friendly and console the flustered woman.

She warily looked at his outstretched hand and then looked up at his face. He tried to keep the smile look natural and welcoming, afraid to scare her away. To his relief, she took his hand with a small smile of her own.

* * *

"I'm Hermione."

* * *

When she looked up at the man, now known as Percy, Hermione could truly see his eyes. They were odd. They were blue one moment then green at another moment. At certain point, they were a mix of green and blue, like the sea. They were dark too, like the sea, the ocean, was brewing a storm, or perhaps it only seemed so because the pub was still dark inside.

Still, they were compelling.

After the handshake, or more like a hand "grab," Percy pointed his thumb to the tabled seats.

* * *

"Why don't we move over there? If it's alright with you, we can talk while we drink?"

* * *

Her brain, having survived the alcohol's pull, shouted that she should not. She should not make a pleasant company with this charming American. She should not put herself in such a tempting situation when she just ran away from one relationship, only hours ago. But then another side of her mind whispered, why not? Why should she not be consoled by the company of this man? Why should she not enjoy her life as it is? Why should she care if the situations was tempting or not, when the man would probably go back to America soon anyways? This could be what everyone calls a "one-night-stand" and not a start of a relationship. And who knows? This man may only genuinely want someone to just talk to while having a drink. How else would she find out what tonight will become except she accept this invitation?

After asking that last rhetorical question, Hermione nodded.

* * *

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

Percy smiled at her again. This man smiled awfully lot, not that it bothered her. He guided her to the table he previously pointed at. Hermione felt his hand hovering above the small of her back, and she somehow appreciated the lack of touch.

* * *

After the two sat down, the witch and the demigod talked. They talked about things, argued about other things playfully, and ranted about things together. They interacted in such way for hours until there was no other customer inside the pub, until the pub closed at 2 am, until the bartender approached them silently and politely alerted them of the closing. They walked out of the pub together, still talking about things as they walked down the street in step with each other.


	2. Morning Bed

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

 **A/N: Okay, so for the previous chapter, you might have been a bit confused because of the format. Basically, whenever there are empty lines before and after a person's speech, inside quotation marks, there is a perspective change, either from Percy to Hermione, or from Hermione to Percy.**

 **If there was any confusion, I sincerely apologize for not making it clear before the chapter… Now, here's the next chapter!**

Hermione remembered some things from last night.

He was talking about his ex-girlfriend at some point. A name that ended with "beth," but the entirety of the name she could not remember correctly. He said "beth" was a very smart woman, too smart for him, in fact. They were 'in love' for 8 years, since he was 16, he said. _We broke up 2 years ago_. Why, she remembered asking. Percy had sighed, shaking his head. _Let's just say, I preferred to stay inside the fence, and she wanted to live outside of it, in the 'real world.'_

Then he was talking about his father. He said he did not have the greatest father, but his father was good, good enough for him, or maybe too good. He said he felt some pressure to meet the expectations surrounding him that came from being his father's son. Hermione remembered him chuckling while he said so, in such a forcefully hidden sadness, that she wanted to just embrace him. When he confessed that he was running away, that he came to London to forget the things that happened in America, Percy's eyes seemed a bit watery and shaky, but she could not be sure. Both of them were quite drunk by then.

Hermione remembered walking down the street with him. The picture was hazy in her mind, but Percy had put on his coat, his eyes twinkling under the streetlight, just a bit like Professor Dumbledore. Their hands were together, fingers interlocked. How it happened, she could not remember.

They had decided to go to her apartment because Percy refused to let her walk alone at 3 in the morning. In the midway, Hermione thought there was a flash of light behind her along with a clicking noise that sounded suspiciously like a shutter. She remembered looking behind her, into the alleys, squinting her eyes at them, but not finding anything and continue walking with Percy.

When they had finally arrived at her place, a little cottage like house with just right amount of space for a working woman like her, Hermione had climbed up the short flight of stairs while still holding Percy's hand. Yes, she remembered that Percy had stayed at the bottom of the stairs, also still holding her hand, looking up at her with those twinkly eyes. It was as if they had known each other for years. As if all those failing relationships of hers had gone by, had become only some things of long past. Percy had been murmuring about leaving, and she remembered, as she was swinging the linked hands gently, that she did not want him to leave, that the moment was too… magical to pass up.

No, oh no. She remembered now. _She_ had pulled him toward her. _She_ had grabbed him by the neck and put her lips on his.

He had been frozen for a second, and Hermione, even in her drunk mind, regretting, had pulled away. There eyes had met, Percy's eyes intent on hers, then on her lips. Then he had grabbed her by her neck with both hands and pulled her into a kiss, this time both sides participating very much. Hermione thought she had heard another clicking then, but she was engrossed with the activity so much that she did not care for the suspiciousness of the sound as she would have normally.

Then there was nothing. She woke up, the sun shining through the uncurtained windows, and her nude body next to another nude body.

* * *

Percy remembered most things from last night.

She was talking politics at the beginning. The calm conversation soon became a rant, and it was fascinating to hear her talk. She was angry about slavery. Slavery existed beyond the term 'slavery,' she said. He thought she said something like 'house elves' along with indentured servants, but he was a bit drunk, so he probably remembered it incorrectly. But he remembered clearly, Hermione was a very smart woman. Like Annabeth had been… Except Hermione's intelligence stemmed from selflessness. She wanted to fight for other people, the suffering people, (she had said she was a civil rights lawyer), whereas Annabeth… she wanted to get out and be recognized, live as a renowned architect. After all, her fatal flaw was pride.

Then Hermione talked about her relationships. _I didn't even have a lot! I had three! I had three boyfriends total in all my twenty something years of life!_ Her pronunciation was slipping at this point, and Percy remembered staring at her half closed eyes and her fingers clenching into a fist and thinking they were adorable. _Now all I'm left with is brothers_ … She then had plopped her head down on the table, and he could not help but pat her small head.

Another moment, she was tucking at her robe/coat sleeve. There was an ugly scar that couldn't be removed, she had said. Percy remembered her fingers, hands, and arms trembling. When he had tried to touch her, to stop her trembling by any sort of consolation, she had flinched and looked up, her eyes full of fear, not recognizing him at all. He remembered that she had pulled out a wooden stick out of a hidden pocket and aimed it at him. _You bitch!_ She had shouted. After a several minutes of struggle to make her recognize him, Hermione had sat back down and cried for ten minutes.

Then the bartender came over and told them the pub was about to be closed. He remembered looking around and discovering that they were the only two customers left. He had to half carry Hermione out of the pub. She stirred and woke up from her previous daze, still managing to look quite beautiful under the moonlight, and began to giggle. _Alright! That's been a fun night! I'd best go home now, kind sir! Good night, everyone, good night!_ Percy remembered not being able to hold in his laughter. He could not possibly let her go home alone in that state, he had told her. Then she pouted, _fine, Sir Knight in shining armor, if you must! But I'll lead the way. It's down this street._ Then she had really marched forward, and he remembered holding her hand to catch up with her and realizing he had only after he did.

He also remembered weird camera sounds. There was a burst of light followed by a shutter noise. Hermione had noticed too, and he and she both had turned around to check what it was. He remembered looking down at her face, the squinting eyes and thinking, _oh boy, I'm seriously screwed_ , because even the wrinkles on her nose was cute now. In the end, they both had ignored whatever that was behind them and continued walking, hand in hand. Percy remembered the warm, fuzzy sensation inside him when he also realized that Hermione had not puller her hand out of his.

Then when they had reached the stairs to her house, that was when his head was cleared entirely. Hermione was standing three stairs above him, the streetlight shining down on her, on her softly glowing face and her bronze curls. She smiled shyly, playing with a strand of her hair and putting it behind her hair. He remembered not wanting to admit it but admitting it at that moment that he might have just fallen for her. She swung the linked hands gently back and forth, and he had looked down at his shoes because he truly wished for the night to last longer. But he looked back up at her and tried his best to bid her goodbye. She was quite drunk and most likely would not remember him in the morning, and also he had no ways to be contacted back by her, no cell phone, computer, nothing. So he said, he'd better leave. He remembered offering her a last smile, as she was biting her lips, before she pulled him close and pressed her lips on his.

Surprised, his head had gone white and blank for a moment. Hermione lifted her lips, worries and doubt apparent in the furrows between her brows, as she searched his eyes for a kind of confirmation. As clear as his head was, one look at her eyes and her lips, Percy had been drawn to kiss her himself this time. They had kissed and kissed, him holding Hermione and carrying her up the stairs and Hermione digging through her bag and opening the door with her key.

The rest of the night till dawn, they explored each other's body with everything they had. He remembered trailing down a certain line from her lips through her neck to her shoulders and her rib cage. He remembered the intertwining fingers and the heated embraces. He remembered the whispers and the moans. He remembered all.

He woke up from the rustle of the bed sheets. He was facing down, his back to the ceiling, and he felt movement to his right. He saw a curved line of a bare back. She was sitting up, and he heard her whispering, _bloody hell_.

* * *

Percy realized that Hermione probably had no recollection of their intercourse last night. She was too drunk. So he closed his eyes and shifted his body, pretending to be still asleep but definitely making some noise so that Hermione would know he was about to be awake. He waited for her reaction.

He heard a quiet gasp and a hasty rustling. He felt the bed sheet pulled up.

Hermione was also playing the pretending game.

He moved around a bit more to make his rise more natural and finally sat up. He stretched and yawned, intentionally loudly, and looked down at Hermione. She was hiding under the cover. Percy let out a soft chuckle because _Hermione, honestly, that's too noticeable_. Nonetheless, he got off the bed without a comment. He found the bathroom after a brief search and washed up a bit before coming back out and putting back on his clothes. He then went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. It was not full but still had decent amount of ingredients enough for two servings of breakfast. He pulled out a frying pan and began cooking eggs and bacon. He put slices of bread into a toaster as well.

* * *

Hermione, hidden under the bedsheet, began to think. Her head had never worked so hard before (actually that was a lie, but nevertheless). She tried going back to the moment she was drinking alone at the pub. Yes, counting back, she remembered the decent conversation she had with the man, walking with him down the street, and kissing him! Dear Merlin, she could not have been any more stupid. Not only did she allow herself to be alone with a strange man, a strange _American_ man, but she also slept with him! If the naked bodies she witnessed a few moments ago were any indication to go by, that was.

She heard the man, what was his name? Percy! Yes, she heard Percy moving around the house. He was in the bathroom for a few minutes, during which she dared not to move in fear of making any noise that would catch his attention, and then he was in the kitchen. It seemed that he was cooking things, and soon there was that ever flavorful smell of bacon. She clenched her teeth and bore through the torture of being absolutely still while smelling the mouthwatering scent of toasted bread and bacons. There were more sounds like placing plates and silverware on the table, and Hermione noticed footsteps coming closer.

* * *

"Her...mione? I know it's probably really awkward, but you must be hungry. I made breakfast for both of us. Ah, I used your food without permission, and I'm really sorry."

* * *

Percy found Hermione's stealth mode very adorable and even admirable as well, but after more than ten minutes, he was beginning to worry. He had approached her cautiously, because she might just pull out that stick from nowhere like last night. He did not want to threaten her.

He in hopes stared at the lump of bed sheet in front of him. To his relief and joy, the cover slowly slid down, revealing Hermione's fully blushing face, her tangled brown hair, and her eyes that were, under the morning sun rays, the color of hot cocoa.

"Hi, Percy."

She smiled shyly.


	3. Steam in the House

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

 **A/N: Excited because I got 2 reviews already! Thank you to chickenugets, Davechaosity319 and the guest Smudgy. Just because it's Sunday and because I don't want to write my graduation thesis, here's another chapter.**

 **Also, though I tried to explain the change of perspectives in the previous chapter, I realized that through the mobile app, the line spacing doesn't really mean anything. So I decided to just add a line break for the perspective changes. So whenever you see a line break just assume that the view just changed from one person to another!**

 **Thanks and enjoy! And please review if you have an extra minute! :)**

Over the breakfast, there was not much talk except the casual munching of food. It was so unlike the night before. Last night, the two had talked as if they were on fire. This morning, they were silent as if they stood on a thin sheet of ice, ready for the other person to break it.

* * *

Hermione had to admit, Percy knew how to fry those eggs and bacon. The toast was excellent too, but the toaster took much of the credit. She stole a glance up at Percy. He took a bite off his toast and was reaching for the cup of water he poured for himself.

"Nothing like hydration for hangovers." He had said.

During this fragile and awkward silence, Hermione thought over the events of last night and reached a conclusion that she, at the least, owed him some courage. It was she who stared at him rudely first, but he kindly had accepted her apology and actually offered a friendly companion. She was too drunk to even remember ever exiting the pub, but obviously he had offered his service to walk her home safely (and he succeeded doing so along with some other things). Now he made breakfast for her. She owed him a conversation. And bloody hell, she was a Gryffindor, seriously, for Merlin's sake! She ought to be braver than others.

"So… thank you, Percy. For the food, I mean! They were delicious, um. And also… thank you for walking me home last night…"

She managed to begin, but she could not meet Percy's eyes. She was a bit nervous, like any other would be if she (or even he) was in her place in the situation. To her relief, she heard Percy chuckle.

"You're welcome. I'm just glad you don't mind me digging through your fridge. And… yeah, um, how much of yesterday do you remember?"

Hermione hesitated. How much should she reveal? Yes, sure, they had talked last night for hours and got to know each other pretty well. But with all the technicalities, they were still quite strangers to each other. After all, they had only met last night for the first time. She remembered questioning herself before she sat down with Percy, and she also remembered how she responded to her own questions. This was only going to be a casual "one night stand." That was what she had told herself, and now she thought back to it, it was sort of embarrassing to mention. So she chose her next words very carefully, without any details as such.

"We were… at the pub. I remember talking a lot with you. Then we were… walking down the street? When we reached my place, I… kissed you."

At this point, Hermione could feel her face heating, the blush physically obvious even to herself. She had her head down and played with her fork, waiting for Percy to respond. She peeked at him for a second and saw him scratching his head, a bit shy and a bit flustered? She could not be sure.

"Do you, wow, this isn't easy, do you remember anything… after that?"

Hermione and Percy looked up together, and their eyes met, not as intense as the night before, but still in a steady gaze. Then snippets from the chunk of blacked-out memory began to return to Hermione.

There were bare skins, of course, and they were bare for a _long_ time. She remembered the warm touch of his lips that trailed up and down her body. She remembered grasping his shoulders and her own moaning into his collarbone. She remembered her legs becoming entangled with his. And then there was that ache in her lower stomach right now...

* * *

Percy witnessed the blush creeping in, from her shoulders to her face. She must have begun to remember what happened after the kiss last night. She was becoming red. He had to keep himself from blushing after witnessing the marks he made on her last night, that were redder than her blush and was very apparent. He helplessly let his own blush surface, as the marks reminded him more clearly of what kind of positions he was in with Hermione only few hours ago.

"I, uh, we… um, did some… very adult things…?" Hermione spoke again.

Percy let out a small laughter. _Adult things_ , she phrased it. Hermione was looking at him almost incredulously, and it was becoming quite troubling how everything she did and said was just so lovely to him now. To console the deeply disturbed woman before him, Percy answered truthfully.

"Yes, we did some adult things. _Very_ adult things. And… what do you think about it now?"

* * *

Hermione bit her lips. She could not risk another relationship. Truthfully, it was all quite enjoyable up until now. If it became something greater from here, it was sure to go downhill just like all her previous relationships. Percy's eyes made it hard to make a sharp cut, however. In the daylight that shone through the window, his eyes were pools of undefiled ocean, so deep and so clear. She had to tell him that it was all a mistake, but looking into those eyes only made her realize why she came to kiss him last night... all throughout the night truthfully.

She needed more time to think.

"Why don't you wash up a bit? You made breakfast, so I'll wash the dishes."

Hermione did her best to offer her best reassuring smile. Percy seemed a bit startled by her sudden change of the topic, but as kind as he had been so far, he did not push it and only nodded.

"The towels are in the drawer inside the bathroom. If you need anything else, please let me know."

"Thanks."

Only after Percy had gone into the bathroom and the sound from the shower head began to echo through the house, Hermione realized what she had done. This was too similar to a beginning of a relationship. A man in a woman's shower after a night together… _No, no, no._ Hermione shook her head. She could not afford to even think that way.

 _I'm only trying to be kind to him as he had been to me. Nothing ulterior behind this! Absolutely innocent!_

After that thought, there was a loud tapping on the window, which scared her so much she couldn't even scream. She turned around and found a grey owl perched on the frame. It was Harry's new owl. Hannelore was the name, she thought. She opened the window and sighed in relief that she had sent Percy to shower. Otherwise, she really had no excuse for having an owl visit her in the morning. Hannelore carried a ribboned paper package. One was clearly a copy of a newspaper, most likely a Daily Prophet for today, and the other small one was a card with 'Hermione' written in Harry Potter's usual penmanship.

Hermione pulled out the card. The content was short, and the writing inside was drastically troubled looking, the letters merely whipped into the parchment.

* * *

 _Hermione,_

 _You must read today's Daily Prophet._

 _Rita Skeeter's crewmen did it again._

 _Harry._

* * *

Hermione, panicked by Harry's urgency, dropped the card and hurriedly picked up the _Daily Prophet_. When she spread the paper, she was stilled by the appalling display on the front page.

The headline was: _THE WAR HEROINE'S SECRET ROMANCE_. Below it, there were two photos, both equally big and placed vertically by Rita Skeeter's article. The photos showed two figures in motion: Hermione and Percy. One photo showed them walking hand in hand down the street, looking into each other's faces with smiles. The other photo, to Hermione's greatest dismay, showed Hermione pulling Percy into a kiss in front of her house. The motion shot of this particular photo ended only after Percy himself pulled Hermione into a passionate kiss.

Struck by an utter surprise, Hermione stared at the photos. She gave herself a second to recover, but was struck again by the rubbish written by Skeeter.

* * *

 _Perhaps the most well known witch in the recent wizarding history, Hermione Granger was spotted last night in her loving moment with her secret bonbon, a mystery man with dark hair, wearing muggle clothes._

 _So far, Hermione Granger had been known now more as a member of the magical law enforcement crew, and, before as an admired participant in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, than as a witch of feminine qualities. It had been rumored that she had no interest in romance whatsoever, but it seems the general public has been incorrect about that aspect all along._

 _From the fact that the man was wearing extremely plain muggle clothes, it is most assumable that Granger's love interest is a muggle. Whether this is why Granger kept it a secret affair or not is a debatable subject, but…_

* * *

It was infuriating, to say the least. First of all, why did Hermione even have to share her private life with everyone? Why would it matter if she had a boyfriend or two, or if he or they were muggles? And the way Skeeter wrote her down as if she was incapable of emotions! Why was this even a front page material?

Hermione stumped toward the phone. Harry was raised in a muggle family and had a phone in case an immediate communication was needed. Usually, Hermione and Ginny were the only ones talking through it, but she would have to avoid Ginny for the moment. As lovely as Ginny was, she could be a chore to get rid of when it came to talking about 'love.' Hermione could only guess that it came from Ginny's lack of excitement as a mother and a wife, but who was to say, really?

She quickly dialed Harry's home number and waited for him to pick up the phone as the signal began sounding. Only seconds after the signal, there was a click and a shrieking voice of Ginny.

"By Merlin, Hermione! What is this, tell me all about it! Who is this man!"

Hermione cringed and pushed the receiver away from her ear for a moment. She had to talk to Harry first, so she had to go through Ginny quickly. Percy could be out of the shower any moment.

"Ginny, Ginny. Listen, this isn't really the time. Is Harry there? Can I please talk to him first?"

There was a bit of complaint, but thankfully, Hermione was able to get to Harry with the help from Harry himself. Hermione could hear Harry softly chastising Ginny behind the receiver. Then his voice became clear as he said, "hello?"

"Harry! What is this? How is this happening?"

"You know what happened. Rita Skeeter happened. I know you don't really read Daily Prophet so you probably didn't know, but she did something similar to me before. She hired a cameraman to camp out near my house and take pictures of the most private moments of my life."

Hermione actually remembered that time. It was only a few months ago, but Harry was on the front page, not because of his political activities but because of his son.

"But I thought it's banned to that any more?"

Harry sighed.

"It is. She managed to escape the accusation that time because she only had one photo of me. She said she only coincidentally took a picture, that there was no stalking or spying involved. I thought about it after I owled you, but we could probably get her this time. There are two photos that were taken one after the other, a clear indication of the camera following you. We could perhaps finally put her behind the bars for a while."

Hermione sighed with Harry. Rita Skeeter was a headache all times.

"That woman… She was so quiet for a few years now! Ugh, why did she have to break the trend?"

"That's exactly why. There was too little gossip. She couldn't just wait for interviews to make stories up anymore. Especially about you, since you're so busy and all."

"Then why this time? It's not like this is my first 'romance'."

Hermione grumbled in disgust.

"Well, obviously previous boyfriends of yours have all been wizards. This one, it seems, like a muggle. A more interesting twist to the story, you know? And speaking of which, who is he, Hermione? Didn't you just call me last night and tell me you broke up with the prat? I don't think he would have worn muggle clothing, even if it was for you. Who is that man?"

There was shout behind Harry's voice, from Ginny most likely, something like _Yeah, who is he?!_ Hermione bit her lips. In all honesty, she did not know.

"It's, uh, complicated. I don't know what's really going on…"

Ginny must have robbed the receiver out of Harry's hand, because it was Ginny's voice that yelled through the receiver the next moment.\

"What! Did I just hear Hermione Granger say she doesn't know what's going on? Is the world about to end again?"

"Ginny!"

"But seriously, Hermione! How could you not know? Unless you—"

There was a sharp inhale of epiphany, and Hermione cringed for the outburst to come.

"Oh. My. Bloody. Hell! Hermione Granger did a stand! A drunk one night stand! Dear Merlin, what's _really_ happening to this world!"

"Ginny, please!"

Hermione felt her blush reappearing. She had enough to deal with already, and Ginny was not helping for sure.

Just then, the water falling sound in the bathroom stopped. Percy was done with his shower. By Merlin's sake, Hermione was lost of what to do. In that moment when the bathroom door clicked and began opening, all seemed to slow down, the moment paused to infinity. Hermione glanced down at the receiver then up at the opening door. Before she could act out anything, the slowed time flowed in normal speed again, and the door burst open. Percy walked out of the steaming bathroom, with only a towel around his waist. His slim yet muscular body caught Hermione's eyes, making her blush even worse, and she averted her gaze.

"Is everything okay? I heard yelling and was just worried…"

Percy asked with his brows furrowed. Hermione shook her head.

"No, I was just talking to my friend, and she just got too excited, and I—"

 _Is that him? Merlin, let me talk to him!_

Ginny shouted through the receiver so loudly that it was plainly heard by both Hermione and Percy. Hermione dropped her head, silently cursing her friend for the moment. Percy, who realized what the phone call must have been about, began blushing.

"I, um, I could go back in if you guys need more time to talk, I mean, I have to go back in, 'cause, so yeah. Okay."

With that, Percy returned to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Hermione stared at the door. The extreme embarrassment actually made her calm, and she pulled up the receiver to her ear once again.

"Ginevra Molly Potter. You're going to pay for this the next time I see you."

There was a sharp _eek!_ and then it was Harry answering the phone again.

"Hermione, go easy on her." There was a quiet whine in the background, and Harry laughed. _Darling, you sort of deserved it this time._ "I'll talk to her about 'less excitement' as well."

Hermione sighed, not really angry at either of her friends.

"No, it's fine, actually. I just don't know what to do, Harry. I know Ron's not an early riser so he probably didn't see it yet, but… imagine him seeing those photos! I might as well just leave the country now."

Harry laughed out loud.

"You did really soften up after the war, Hermione. Since when did you want to flee in the face of a turmoil? Where's your Gryffindor spirit? Just face your feelings, 'Mione, and I mean _honest_ feelings. I know you, and if it was merely a drunk mistake, you wouldn't be so troubled. So just think about what you feel about him first. Then we can figure something wicked together and fix it on Rita Skeeter."

Hermione smiled. Harry was not always the best advisor, but he was a good counselor. She knew she could always depend on him.

"Yeah, thanks, Harry. I probably should go and talk to him now. Tell Ginny I'll talk to her later and Albus that I said hi."

"Sure. Good luck, Hermione. Good bye."

"Good bye, Harry."

Placing the receiver back on the phone, Hermione breathed in and out to better calm herself. Putting the disturbing photos, Rita Skeeter, and all the other problems aside, she focused on one big issue behind the closed bathroom door. She let out one last exhale and walked up to the door.

"Percy? It's okay to come out now."

She sounded so utterly stupid saying so but waited patiently for Percy's reaction.

* * *

Percy noticed that as shy as her voice sounded, there was no longer that hesitation from before. Apparently her talk with her friend on the phone gave her whatever she needed to think about this… turn of event. He was a bit afraid to open the door now. Either she wanted to see him more or she did not any more. For Percy who knew he was in love the moment he felt how lovely Hermione was through all his senses, the latter conclusion, of her not wanting to see him again, was frightening.

Still, because Hermione had gathered her courage to speak to him about her feelings, Percy, in appreciation of her effort, opened the door. And there she was, still in that fuzzy sweater but without pants, looking up at him with those limpid eyes. He could not help but smile.

"Did the talk go alright?"

He began.

Hermione nodded.

"I'd like to answer your question from before."

Percy traced back to their earlier conversation. Ah, yes, he had asked her what she thought about the 'very adult things' they had done together. His smile grew a bit.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I tried to escape answering that question, but I wanted to approach it more carefully."

"I understand."

"So, I thought about it, and as you've heard, consulted my friend about it. And I reached a conclusion."

Percy waited. In silence, he prepared himself for the worst. After all, to her, he was just an American she just met the night before. However much they felt close to each other after their conversation and the 'very adult' activity, Hermione had every right to feel bad about it all and reject him just there and then. Hermione inhaled deeply and exhaled through her mouth. Percy's sight fell on her lips, and by gods! He wanted to kiss her again.

When she finally spoke, her voice a bit trembling, still nervous, Percy stared at her lips, but this time, to read them, to comprehend once again what she had just told him. For he could not believe it the first time he heard it.

 **A/N: There it is! I probably have a lot of mistyped words (all my writings do...). I try to go back and fix as many mistakes as I can, but there's always that one mistake that's been missed at every reading. Please bear with my poor typing skills! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Wine and Crackers

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

 **A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, especially to Davechaosity319, chickenugets, and the guest Smudgy for writing more! It's always nice to see familiar names on the review list!**

 **Also, I went back and read over my previous chapter… I noticed that there was a ton of mistakes! I'm just glad that you guys still looked over those weird sentences and spellings. Thank you again :)**

 **Here's the fourth chapter!**

What Hermione told Percy that morning in front of the bathroom was not short, nor simple. But at the same time, Ronald Weasley, otherwise known as Ron, who lived on the other side of the country, who had just received the Daily Prophet for the day, was also having not so short or simple conversation with his own mind.

He held the paper with both hands, eyes wide open, and wild thoughts screaming inside his head. After the considerably peaceful breakup, Ron bore no harsh feelings toward Hermione. He understood it all, because he noticed how, as genuine as his love for her was, it was not the kind that made him want to sleep with her. For the exactly same reason he had agreed to Hermione's suggestion on breaking up. But Ron still cared about her, of course. The next boyfriend she had had to go through a severe scrutinization by both Ron and Harry. Harry, who believed that Hermione was a grown up woman who could make a decision for herself, was somewhat coerced into making a threatening face at the wizard, but nonetheless.

The second wizard Hermione got herself into was a cold, condescending man. Ron would have welcomed her parting from him any time, but when did she have time to get into another relationship, even before letting him know? And by the looks of the way they held hands and kissed, the two seemed to have been in the relationship for a while. Ron's nostrils flared with an angry passion.

He quickly whipped out a two-way mirror he purchased not too long ago with Harry, and spoke Harry's name to it. Soon enough, Harry's knowing face appeared on the mirror. Ron began first.

"What the bloody hell, Harry? Did you know about this? Of course, you knew about this! Why didn't she tell me? Is it because she doesn't want me to meddle with her business anymore? But by Merlin's sake, did she _have_ to let me know through this?!"

Ron held up the front page at the mirror and shook it. Harry sighed and massaged his temple, and Ginny popped into view.

"Ron, stop being ridiculous! You're hurting Harry!"

Harry smiled.

"I'm fine, love, really." Then he faced Ron. "But to answer your question, Ron, no, I did _not_ know about this until this morning reading that same front page you're holding. As for the rest of then, you should ask Hermione yourself, not me, Ron."

* * *

Harry hesitated to tell Ron that it was actually only a one night stand. Harry had been around Ron long enough to know that the moment Ron learns of Hermione's 'drunk' night with the stranger, he would apparate straight to Hermione's place and begin lecturing her about making wrong choices. He would also, most likely, try to kill the said stranger for taking advantage of a drunk woman, who also happened to be his dear dear friend. Yes, it was definitely a bad idea to tell Ron the truth. Harry made a small mental note to tell Hermione about it later. Meanwhile, he had some duty to calm Ron down.

"Besides, Ron, as I've already told you multiple times before, Hermione _is_ a grown up woman. Whatever choice she'd like to make, she can. You know that, right?"

Ron's face faltered in a kind of shame, his head begrudgingly nodding in agreement.

"But, Harry, what if she's making a wrong choice? What if this man is secretly a murderer? What if he hurt her? I'm just worried, that's all."

Harry eyed his friend with weariness. This conversation had happened before, more than a few times.

"Ron. You must remember that as close as a family we can get with Hermione, we aren't actually her blood kins. Merlin, even her actual blood kinds wouldn't bother so much! Of course, if there are suspicious aspects surrounding Hermione's life that are also obvious to everyone, not just you, I would try to intervene and let Hermione know such concerns exist in my mind. But, Ron, here, you're the only one who races up to her door every time she gets a new boyfriend. You aren't her big brother. You're actually her ex-boyfriend, which just makes the situations rather worse than better."

Ron pursed his lips. He almost hated when Harry was so absolutely correct. Harry continued.

"We both know that Hermione is smarter than both of us. That doesn't grant her wisdom in all kinds of circumstances, I know, but we should know better than to judge or doubt her decisions. And so far from what I've observed, Hermione has the tendency to have only temporary relationship. Are you seriously going to scan every boyfriend that will pass through her threshold now?"

Ron sighed.

"I guess you're right. Still, that Skeeter! The nerve of hers to make Hermione's privacy a front page material! That witch's really need go soon."

Harry chuckled.

"See? You knew who to be really angry at."

Ron smiled a little before fidgeting his fingers. Harry noticed the change of expression.

"What's wrong now?"

Ron looked up and smiled sheepishly.

"Can't we check him this one last time?"

Harry shook his head, sighing.

"Ron—"

"I know, I know. I heard you just now! But please, Harry? One last time! Let me know that this one's a good one before I quit worrying too much about her future choices."

Harry saw Ron's pleading eyes, filled with sincerity and almost desperation. Harry sighed.

"Fine. But let me talk to Hermione first, okay?"

"Great."

* * *

"—and that's why Ron and I will be visiting you probably tonight. I suggest you start prepping your new man now, rehearse him with what he needs to say to appease Ron and whatever."

"What?"

Hermione yelled at the receiver. Percy, who was lying on the bed, playing with a string that fell out of Hermione's knitted blanket, looked up, alarmed and curious. Hermione offered a half-assuring smile with a wave of hand and returned to her conversation with Harry. She shouted in whispers, furious.

"What the bloody hell, Harry? You didn't tell him the truth?"

Harry sighed behind the receiver.

"I know, I'm sorry. But you know who he's going to react if he knew that it began as a drunk mistake. He'd probably hex your poor, what was it?"

"Percy."

"Yeah, your poor Percy."

Percy looked up again at the mention of his name, and Hermione smiled because in that moment when his head tilted sideways and his eyes lit up with curiosity, Percy looked perhaps the most innocent creature on earth. She wriggled her fingers at him, and Percy chuckled, shaking his head, and returned to his fidgeting with the string. Harry, unaware of this silent interaction, was still speaking.

"Ron's probably going to hex the hell out of your poor Percy. Are you listening, Hermione?"

"Yes, Harry, yes, I am."

"So if you want to tell Ron how it all began, you're free to do so. But personally… I think it'd be safer for both of you to play pretend for a while. Make up a good story about how you guys began seeing each other well before."

"But that's going to look so bad with Snatcher…"

Snatcher was the boyfriend who parted from Hermione without hesitation hours before Hermione met Percy. If it became known that she was seeing Percy before last night, Snatcher will, for sure, think that Hermione was two-timing him.

"Well, it's already happened. Remember the photos for Rita Skeeter's article? I mean, she wrote you down as a romantic who's been in this for a while, but those photos make what she wrote seem so real. You might as well just use that now."

"Agh, I've forgotten about that. I guess you're right. Snatcher most likely had already seen the paper."

Harry chuckled.

"I wonder _why_ you had forgotten about it."

Hermione blushed.

"Shut up, Harry."

He laughed.

"Just make sure he's got the story down too, 'Mione. Ron's dense enough to pass through a bad acting, but you guys need to have a same story."

"Fine. See you later."

"See you later."

Hermione placed the receiver down and turned around to face Percy. He was already looking at her, seemingly have sensed something off about her. She smiled.

Hermione knew exactly why she had forgotten about Rita Skeeter and her abominable photos and article.

* * *

When Percy, with wet hair, was waiting across the threshold of the bathroom door for her next words, there were no other words to explain him other than a giant puppy, or maybe a baby seal. From the fidgeting fingers to his wide and twinkling eyes, she could actually see how nervous Percy was, how much he cared. It helped her gather the rest of the courage to say what she meant to say.

"I've concluded that I like you. And I like you very very much. In fact, I like you too much to just call it a rare mistake. My time with you so far has been only good and better throughout, and I… would love to try something more with you."

Percy was frozen and staring at her mouth, so Hermione coughed a bit before continuing.

"I know I've already told you last night about how it had been so far between me and the long-term relationships, but if you're, I mean, if you could have a bit of faith in me, then I'll try to have faith in myself and in this relationship as well—"

Hermione noticed that she was merely speaking gibberish now, but she could not stop before Percy say anything. Why was he so quiet?

"—so I guess, what I'm just trying to say here is that I'd really really like to—"

Then Percy grabbed her face and pulled her forward, gently yet still swiftly. He kissed her, and Hermione could feel his lips spread into a smile while they kissed. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. Soon, Percy, grabbing her waist and thigh, hoisted her up, and Hermione held herself up by grabbing Percy's waist with her legs. Then they spun around a bit, having a brief rest from the kiss and giggling, until they reached the bed and fell onto it. Percy fell on his back with Hermione still on him, and the two just easily immersed into more intense kissing and caressing. It, of course, led naturally to the 'very adult' things.

* * *

Hermione pushed the phone away slightly and walked toward Percy, who was still half-nude on her bed, looking her way.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

Hermione nodded half-heartedly.

"Yes, sort of."

"Something's bothering you. What is it?"

Hermione sighed.

"This is really difficult to say… But do you remember when I talked about how my first boyfriend sort of became my big brother?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well, Harry, that's the friend I just talked to on the phone, and that ex-boyfriend, whose name is Ron, by the way, are coming over to… _inspect_ you."

Percy stared at her wordlessly. Hermione was instantly scared. What if he thought this ridiculous and did not find the relationship worth all the trouble? Perhaps sensing that he was scaring her by his silence, he held up his hand and caressed her cheek.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. And when I think, everything but my brain sort of shuts down for a sec. If I frowned, it didn't mean anything with the context of what we're talking about."

Touched by how sweet Percy consistently had been to her, Hermione leaned down and pressed her lips on his cheek. She smiled as she sat up again.

"You're fine."

Percy smiled softly back to her. Then he tilted his head and asked.

"Is there something more? If two of your friends coming over to see me is all the problem there is, I could try and behave well in front of them. That's not too bad at all."

Hermione bit her lower lip.

"Well… that isn't exactly all of it."

She averted her gaze from Percy's. She needed to stop fearing, but this whole ordeal was quite frightening to confess without any preparation for a harsh reaction.

"Harry knows how we met, but Ron… Harry didn't tell Ron about it, and he thinks I shouldn't as well."

Hermione heard Percy hum in contemplation.

"Ron is sort of an extremely protective brother when it comes to me, which I don't approve, not exactly, but I can't stop him because he is still like a family to me. Rejecting his interference in my life, to him, means cutting him off from my life. But the point here is that if he hears of how we met at the bar and how it was all sort of a one-night-stand, he'll try to kill you for taking advantage of me while I was drunk, though it isn't true at all."

She peeked a glance as him. Percy was staring at the ceiling, seemingly deep in thought. Without looking away from the ceiling, he asked.

"But how did he find out you're seeming me? How did he come to assume that we were seeing each other longer than a night?"

Percy turned his head toward her pointedly. His eyes had the look that said _Tell me the truth_. But how could she? How could she tell him that she was a witch that became famous after fighting in a magical war and that now paparazzi from a newspaper called the Daily Prophet took moving pictures of the two of them last night? As much as she loved Percy currently, Hermione could not be sure if she could spill her secrets, the secrets about an entirely new world hidden behind his, to him yet. She had to be careful with it because he was a muggle. So Hermione gave a truthful lie.

"Someone that knew me took a picture of us together last night, holding hands and kissing, and shared it online with everybody else that knows me… Both Harry and Ron saw it, and it was actually Harry who messaged me to look at the post myself. Everybody thinks that I've been seeing you secretly for a long time. And I have to admit, whoever took those photos caught really good moments, because even when I looked at them, we looked like we had been lovers for years…"

As soon as she said them, she blushed. She could feel her ears heated. She heard Percy chuckle.

"Well, I mean I was definitely falling for you last night, it must have shown in the photos, but wow, whoever took and posted those photos online is a huge douchebag. So everybody thinks you've in this relationship for a while now, but it's a problem with Ron because he knew about your third boyfriend?"

Hermione nodded.

"Yes. I hadn't really told him about breaking up with Snatcher yesterday, so he's probably already upset as to why I didn't care to tell him I did before I started seeing you. But according to Harry, he said this'll be the last time he'll try to check the legitimacy of my boyfriend, so…"

Percy nodded, understanding apparent in his eyes.

"Okay. So what's the story I have to know before I see him?"

Hermione smiled sheepishly.

"I haven't really thought of one yet. I thought we could perhaps come up with one together?"

Percy grinned.

"Yeah, we can."

* * *

Harry stood before Hermione's front door. Ron stood by him, most obviously in a bad mood. He grumbled some inaudible things, but Harry ignored Ron and knocked on the door. There was rushing footsteps from inside, and Hermione's voice called out _coming!_ The door opened, and Hermione's smiling face greeted them.

"Hi! Come in."

She led them into the small dining area where the dark haired man from the photos stood behind one of the chairs, waiting. He had a small nervous smile, but when Harry and Ron came near, he approached them with a hand held out. Harry grabbed it first.

"Hi, I'm Percy. You must be…?"

"Harry. Nice to meet you Percy. This is Ron."

He gestured toward Ron, all the while jabbing Ron subtly on the side. Ron begrudgingly held out his hand as well.

"Ron. _Pleased_ to meet you."

Percy grabbed it, and Harry witnessed how Ron became grumpier as his strong grasp left no impact on Percy, who only smiled unknowingly.

"Likewise, Ron."

Hermione, dreading for any awkward silence to come, hurriedly gestured for all of them to sit.

"We got some wine, and crackers too, if you'd like. We probably have cheese somewhere if you want it with the crackers."

As she went to the freezer and began looking for cheese, Ron just glared down at nothing, mumbling, _since when it became 'we'?_ Hermione returned with a plate with a block of white cheese, presumably cream cheese, and a butter knife. She placed it by the plate with crackers on the table and sat next to Percy.

"So… Percy, there they are! Harry and Ron. They've been friends with me since I was eleven, and they're practically my family now."

Percy grinned and responded.

"That's amazing, friends for more than ten years!"

By the way Percy looked Hermione, Harry could tell this man really genuinely loved her. In fact, Harry was sure that if it weren't for him or Ron, Percy would have probably kissed Hermione just now. Ron, also recognizing the loving moment, interrupted, however.

"Yes, and how long have _you_ been seeing each other?"

Percy's grin became a bit meek, and Hermione looked up at him with a reassuring smile. Percy nodded slightly at her and turned his gaze to Ron.

"We met a while ago. She had just broken up with a guy who had a funny name." Harry let out a small scoff. He began to like the man. "We were both drinking at this pub, seated next to each other. We began talking, and then we decided we should meet again. When we did meet again, we agreed that we could probably be a great couple, and here we are."

Percy glanced down at Hermione again, and she looked up at him with the same lovely glaze he had for her. Ron cleared his throat loudly.

"So _when_ did you guys meet?" He looked at Hermione. " _When_ did you break up with Snatcher?"

Hermione bit her lips.

"Ron, I'm sorry I didn't let you know earlier. It's just, things have been hectic and _this_ ," Hermione pointed at Percy and herself, "happened really gradually. There really wasn't a good time to tell you."

Harry nodded. It was very smart of Hermione to evade Ron's questions with ambiguity. Even when Ron found out about the truth later, Hermione could tell him that she hadn't exactly lied about it. They never mentioned a specific date, and what they told Ron were basically just parts of the truth. And Hermione had always been good at evading.

Ron, who received the apology he needed, humphed and relaxed his previously tensed up shoulders. He turned his head to Percy, making his most serious face.

"You, mate, had better be good to her. If I hear of Hermione crying just once because of you, I'm going to chase you down."

Hermione shook her head in disbelief, but Percy took in the threat well enough with a good-natured smile, which actually took Ron by surprise and gave him a slight startle.

"Understood."

* * *

After that, things flowed smoothly, with more ease. There were some pleasant exchange of stories, and some dangerous moments were there too, in which Percy and Hermione forgot that they were not supposed to reveal that they had only met 24 hours ago. Thankfully, Harry would cut them off before they revealed too much, and Ron was able to be in an undisturbed peace throughout the night.

By the end of the night, Ron had consumed the most wine, unsurprisingly to Harry, and it became his duty to apparate the very drunk Ron and himself to Ron's newest settlement in Wales. He would have to use the floo powder at Ron's, because he himself had consumed quite amount of alcohol and was not sure if he could handle apparations in a row well enough. After some goodbyes inside, Percy was left to clean the glasses and plates while Hermione accompanied Harry and Ron out to see them off.

She had closed the front door behind her and crossed her arms across her chest as she watched Harry struggled to keep the sluggish body of Ron from falling. Harry looked up, righting the position of his glasses, and asked Hermione with his serious and worried voice (something Hermione always made fun of).

"When are you planning to tell him you're a witch or that we're wizards? You know those mental reporters are going to start appearing in your life whenever you're with him."

Hermione sighed.

"I don't know Harry. I'm telling myself soon, but honestly, we've only just established what we're going to be together. I don't know if we're ready for another emotional incident yet."

Harry nodded understandably.

"Well, you'll have to find the right time and place to do it before a random wizard or witches apparate right in front of him. Who knows, Snatcher, or even Talesob, could come to you and hex your newest boyfriend, especially with the kind of attention he's receiving in the wizarding society right now. You need to let him prepare for those kind of things, you know."

"I know. I just need some time. It's going to happen soon, though. When it does, I'll let you know. I'll probably need you to prove I'm a witch to him anyways, if that time comes."

"You mean, _when_ that time comes."

Hermione chuckled.

"Alright, Harry. Be safe. Be careful not to pinch yourself on the way back."

"'Kay, good night, 'Mione."

And within a second, the two wizards apparated out of sight. And there stood Hermione staring into the dark street, unaware of how soon Percy would be exposed to the magical world, sooner than she had thought.


	5. Apparition from Paparazzi's

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

 **A/N: Thank you for your reviews, readers! I'm happily distracted from my work right now as I write for all of you who are reading this fic. There were some really thoughtful reviews, and I really appreciate them.**

 **For one of them, I felt the need to reply, so here's my response to 'stormwreckin':**

 **Thank you for your lengthy and thorough review! It really shows that you've read my writing with care. I have read some of the concerns you mentioned, and here are my answers that I hope will ease your mind somewhat.**

 **I'm experimenting with 'perspectives' in this fic, and I planned to pull in more of Percy's side of the story after I finished introducing the situation through Hermione's side of the story. But I see how my postponing Percy's perspective kind of lacked the full view of the characters and their relation to the story for the readers. Also, I meant to address Percy's 'falling in love' situation later when his perspective came to play. I'm actually glad that you've noticed that Percy was falling for Hermione too quickly. Your question will be answered soon! Meanwhile, I understood how readers would be confused about it all. Originally, I was going to wait another chapter or two for Percy's side of the story, but for the sake of the readers, I'm now going to write on Percy's side starting with this chapter! I really hope you'll find this change as an improvement! :)**

 **Again, thank you for your thorough reading and review. Enjoy this chapter!**

Percy woke up with a soft rustle near him. The room was blue, still immersed in the early dawn's pool of darkness. He looked down at the rustle he felt. Hermione was in his arms, breathing quietly in and out, sleeping in peace, her brown curls tickling his arms. There was a gentle glaze on her cheeks, glistening brightly under what little light the moon provided. He stared at the small form and smiled as the birds began chirping outside. It was so magically relaxing, something he had no room for before.

This brought a question to his mind, however. Yes, Hermione was a lovely woman, who encompassed a lot of the traits he appreciated. But how did he fall for her so easily? Percy, for sure, did not believe that Hermione could be any kind of a monster, yet something was off here. Or… maybe all those years as a demigod made him too paranoid. So what if he had the miraculous love at first sight experience? It could happen, right? Still, a tiny voice nagged him from the corner of his mind, _Do you really believe that? Is your life ever that simple?_ Percy mentally shook his head. He could not afford to doubt the relationship when Hermione gave so much courage to begin it. So he let himself drift into sleep again, only to find a very unwelcomed goddess in his dream.

* * *

" _Lady Aphrodite."_

 _Percy knelt on one knee, bowing. Whatever it was she needed, he wanted it to pass quickly. He needed to be a 'good boy' again to make her leave quickly._

" _Percy."_

 _She greeted, a sly smile gracing her lips. She motioned Percy to stand up, and he did so wordlessly._

 _The goddess of love and beauty with her usual lavish gown and adornments sat in front of him with legs crossed, trimming her nails. Both her hair and eyes were brown, but the eyes shifted to grey every few seconds. Percy clenched his teeth, restraining himself from saying anything offensive to the goddess, and managed to ask a decent question._

" _If you don't mind my asking, why are you here?"_

 _Aphrodite lifted her eyes from her nails to Percy. She gave another smile before looking back to her nails._

" _Boy, I'm wherever love and beauty are."_

 _Then an understanding dawned on Percy._

" _You_ did _something, didn't you? What did you do?"_

 _The goddess almost purred at Percy's outburst. Her eyes, once again, on him._

" _Aww, Percy, you're absolutely adorable when you bring out your temper."_

" _Aphrodite. Tell. Me. What. You. Did."_

" _But that'd be boring! Oh well, I guess, I can be entertained while I'm here. Remember that promise I made, Percy?"_

 _Percy's teeth, freed from the clench when he was yelling, clenched again. Yes, he knew what promise she was talking about and remembered it well._

" _Yes, you remember. I promised to keep your love life a complex one, and this is just me keeping the promise."_

 _Aphrodite giggled after saying so._

" _Oh, this one's going to surprise you to no end!"_

 _Watching her little fit, Percy spoke through his clenched teeth._

" _And what if I just quit? What if I say I won't let you play around with me any more?"_

 _Aphrodite stopped in an instant. Her stare was cold as ice, but Percy kept his own gaze steady._

" _Will you, Perseus Jackson? Will you abandon this poor woman who has just learned to trust you? Just learned to trust herself?"_

 _Percy pursed his lips. The goddess knew his flaw too well. However he fell in love with her, now he was in love with Hermione, and Percy would never be able to hurt those that he loved._

" _You're so twisted, using my fatal flaw and putting this innocent woman's life at the edge of havoc. If I'd known she was only involved in my life because of you, I wouldn't even have entered the pub that night."_

 _Aphrodite chuckled rather darkly._

" _As charming as that was, Percy, I did very little for this wonderful outcome. I only sped up the inevitable to happen."_

" _What—"_

" _One way or another, you were meant to meet her."_

 _The goddess gave him a cold stare again briefly before easing right back to her silly persona._

" _And_ that _wasn't me, sweetheart."_

 _Dumbfounded, Percy stood there until one possibility slipped through his mind._

" _The_ Fates…"

 _He was too tranced that he barely heard Aphrodite's delighted giggle as she disappeared from his dream. Then something shook him, and he woke up._

* * *

Hermione was looking down at him, worry apparent in her eyes.

"Are you okay, Percy? You're sweating."

Percy inhaled sharply. He had been having dreamless nights for a while that he forgot what kind of sensation there would be after having a demigod dream again. He remembered how it was always so uncomfortable.

"Percy? Percy?"

He turned his head toward the voice. Hermione's eyes, wider than before was looking down with furrowed brows. Percy finally let out a breath. He weakly nodded her direction, barely whispering.

"I'm okay. I'm alright."

He felt a cool touch on his face, Hermione's fingers and palm caressing it. The tingling temperature difference made him sigh with relief.

"A bad dream?"

Hermione asked.

Percy closed his eyes and nodded again.

"Yeah, pretty much."

He heard Hermione standing up and opened his eyes again. She smiled at him with her arms akimbo.

"Well, it's my turn to cook up some stuff today."

Percy chuckled.

"Do you cook?"

Hermione hesitated for a second but replied confidently with arms still akimbo.

"Of course! Your tastebuds will be in _absolute_ rapture!"

Percy laughed.

"Are you sure? 'Cause you hesitated!"

Hermione laughed with him and shouted as she fled to the kitchen.

"Did _not_!"

* * *

Hermione, who more than often used magic to cook herself only simple meals, found out soon enough that frying eggs manually was more difficult than she thought. The eggs stuck to the pan, and the yolks bursted when she tried to flip the eggs. She cursed and looked behind her. Percy seemed to be still on the bed, which made her furrow her brows again. He was in a quite terrifying state when she woke up. His body was sweating, his teeth gritting, and his fist was clenched. Hermione left a mental note in her mind to ask him more about it later, but for now, she pulled out her wand. Just a tiny whisk of a spell or a charm would improve the whole cooking-her-very-first-home-breakfast situation right now. She was never really good at food charms, but it was either this or that here.

* * *

Percy sat up on the bed. Now that Hermione was in the kitchen, Percy had a walled space for himself to think. He went over the conversation he had with the love goddess in his dream. His quick fall for Hermione was brought about by Aphrodite, and according to her, his relationship with Hermione would be a complicated one. But then, his relationship with Hermione was not the creation of Aphrodite. It was destined by the Fates, or at least, that was what Aphrodite insinuated from her talk. She said she only quickened the process… Percy sighed and scrubbed his face drily with his hand. Thinking this much made his temples throb, but there still were some questions he was left unanswered. What was the complexity to come in this relationship? Why was he and Hermione destined to be together? Then what was his relationship with Annabeth? Was that not destined? His temples throbbed harder and harder with every question added unto the previous one.

Suddenly, it hit him. He's a demigod. He's, _by gods_ , a demigod. And Hermione was a mortal, who would have most likely led a simple, peaceful life, a life without any deathly situations. What if monsters attacked while he was out dating her? What if the monsters attacked her house _right now_? Her life would crumble down because of him, because of Percy Jackson who was so unfortunately born as the son of Poseidon. Percy let out a heavy sigh. He thought he had escaped his life before, but truthfully, it would never leave him alone. Every element of his life would be influenced by the godly side of him, and doubtlessly in a bad way. He grabbed his head to stop the throbbing, but the flash of images passed through his mind, making the throbs worse.

* * *

 _It was that day. Annabeth was in front of him, arms crossed and the gaze averted to the side. She was tapping her foot, whether impatiently or nervously, he could not tell._

" _I can't do this anymore. I need to leave—"_

 _There was a muffled noise, which must be his own voice protesting against her._

" _Well, Perseus the greatest, most dangerous demigod on earth, maybe too afraid to leave the safety of this camp, but_ I _can actually live outside, I_ want _to live outside! We're_ adults _now, Percy! Wake up! The War's been over for years now. Give a room for another hero, won't you?"_

 _Then he was facing his mother, dear sweet Sally Jackson-Blofis. Her arms were also crossed in a tight clench, and her gaze was averted down. He heard the muffles of his own voice again. His mother looked up, tears filled in her eyes._

" _Percy…"_

 _She began, but a tiny girl who just started to walk, a toddler, waddled forward and grabbed his mother's leg. Sally looked down at little Aglaia Jackson-Blofis and smiled. She patted Aggie's head and looked back up at Percy._

" _I'm sorry, Percy."_

 _The image shook sideways, as Percy shook his head, meaning,_ it's okay _. There was a muffled voice that strongly sounded like_ I understand _. As his mother's warm hand reached out to stroke Percy's cheek, the image faded away, and another image appeared._

 _He was at a beach. His father was standing before him. Poseidon's eyes were sad, not tearful but still very sad. He waved his trident over Percy and placed his hand on Percy's shoulder._

" _I hope you'll come back soon, son."_

 _And all things erupted into bubbles that foamed and disappeared, swept by the waves of blackness._

 _A loud voice called him._

 _PERCY!_

* * *

Percy looked up, startled. No one was there, but the whole house was filled with aroma of fried eggs. He kept his stare fixed on no particular point until the voice called his name again few seconds later.

"Percy! Food's ready!"

Percy gasped, only then realizing that he was holding his breath, and exhaled. He smacked both his cheeks in an attempt to keep himself from going in a daze again and stood up to go to the kitchen.

"It smells good, at least!"

He shouted toward Hermione as he walked toward where she was, and Hermione welcomed him with a grin. On the table, she had two plates neatly placed, each with a still steaming waffle, two fried eggs, and slices of orange. Beside them, there was a small bowl with a scoop of butter and a butter knife.

"This looks amazing!"

Percy exclaimed, looking from the food to Hermione, who for some reason had a sheepish smile now.

"I didn't know what you prefer to drink, so I haven't poured any drinks yet. Do you want water again?"

Percy nodded.

"Yeah, water's the second best I can have."

Hermione who had turned around to get Percy a cup of water, turned back around and raised her brow.

"And what's the first?"

Percy grinned at her as he sat down. _Nectar_ , he whispered only to himself.

"That's a trade secret."

Hermione had an incredulous face for a moment before she bursted out laughing.

"Well, aren't you a very attractively mysterious man?"

How she managed to wriggle her eyebrows like a middle aged man but still look adorable, Percy did not know. He simply smiled, shrugging playfully.

"What can I say?"

And then they ate their breakfast with simple Sunday morning pleasantries.

* * *

Sunday was coming to an end, and there was the need to discuss what to do for the week days during which Hermione worked till nine or sometimes even ten at night. Percy had asked if Hermione would like for him to walk her to her work Monday morning, but she almost suspiciously shut that idea down. Percy thought that Hermione must really want to stand up for herself as an independent woman, but Hermione soon explained that she did not want her co-workers who had seen the photos to swarm around him and bother him.

* * *

"And leave you to fend for yourself? At least, with me, the swarm can be divided somewhat."

* * *

Hermione restrained herself from sighing loudly. How could she explain to Percy that her office was located in a wizarding complex where muggles are not really allowed to enter? And even if she could get the permission for the presence of a muggle, because of that damn Rita Skeeter, Percy would be the center of unwanted attention. She shook her head gently as to not hurt Percy's feelings.

"I don't want their attention on you or for our time together to become stressful in any way."

She tried her best to do her own version of 'puppy eyes,' which seemed to have been successful by the way Percy relented to her wish, sighing but still smiling. He grabbed her hand and swung it back and forth.

"Let me walk you out, at least. I have some business to attend to too, now that I'm actually thinking."

Hermione giggled at Percy's antics but nodded, not realizing what a huge mistake she was making.

* * *

Hermione noticed the mistake she made the moment she and Percy walked out the door together Monday morning. She did not notice at first, talking and laughing with Percy over a silly topic, but the banging flashes certainly brought her attention. There were at least ten photographers, who must have been waiting for the two over the night and were very eager to take photos of the mystery muggle lover of the brightest witch of the generation Hermione Granger.

 _What the bloody hell are they doing in front of a muggle!_

Hermione screamed internally.

* * *

Percy was surprised, would be the greatest understatement of the year. He was bewildered, unable to comprehend exactly why whatever was happening in front of him was happening. These photographers, holding the weirdest antique photo gadgets, were taking photos of him, very very passionately. Hermione was blocking their approach to him, but the eager photographers became more out of hand in their desire to take closer pictures of Percy. At one point, Hermione pulled out a stick, _the_ stick Percy was threatened with at the pub, grabbed Percy's hand, and yelled.

"Try not to throw up!"

Then there was a black swirl everywhere, his whole body going through multiple sensations at once, folded, twisted, stretched, and clenched. Percy was briefly reminded of his cousin's shadow traveling, but before he could ponder any farther, his feet landed on a hard floor with a thump.

"Wha…"

He looked up and found himself in an office room. There were bookshelves lining the walls, and the fireplace was glistening with a flickering green flame. All furnitures were dark and wooden, assumably mahogany, and the desk with a vintage lamp had a plate with Hermione's name on it. Percy realized he only now found out what Hermione's last name was. Granger. She was Hermione Granger. A hand tapped on his back, and Percy whirled around, finding a very paled Hermione.

"Are you alright, Percy?"

Percy looked around, trying to comprehend what just happened. He was walking out the front door of Hermione's house, a weird groups of photographers were taking bunch of pictures of him, Hermione pulled out a stick, grabbed his hand, and then… now they were both at an office that looked like it belonged to Hermione.

"What… just happened?"

Hermione looked down, her fingers fidgeting.

Percy doubted himself but could not help himself asking the question: _is she one of us?_ Perhaps she was a child of whatever version of Hades was in Britain. That explained how she could transport the both of them in seconds. It was most likely a different kind of shadow travel. But what was that stick? Was it something from the underworld? Endless number of questions popped up in his head.

Hermione began to speak.

"Percy… I really _really_ did _not_ want to tell you this way… but I'm a…"

He waited, palms wet, waiting for that 'd' to form on her tongue, which to his surprise never came. Instead, she finished the sentence with a very unexpected word.

"... Witch."

"What?"

Percy was dumbfounded for a reason Hermione could never guess.

"I know it's hard to believe, but you've seen my wand and gone through the apparition—"

"You're a what?"

Hermione stopped midway and looked up. Brows furrowed again, and gods, Percy hated making her brows furrow.

"I'm a witch, Percy."

Percy stilled. Like from the Salem Witch Hunt? Like the halloween witch, with the black pointy hat and the broom? Then something hit him.

 _Wait, is she a child of Hecate? Is this her way of covering up her magic?_

* * *

Hermione, by now, had learned that Percy's entire body stopped while he processed something big and important in his head, so she waited patiently for him to return. In a minute or so, he did, his eyes strangely unwavering.

"You do magic?"

Hermione was surprised by how calm and serious Percy was. She half expected him to become very excited.

"Yes."

Then he surprised her more with his next question.

"Who's your parents?"

 **A/N: I'm sorry about the short chapter. Truthfully, I have more written, but I couldn't find a proper place to cut nor write more because of all the stuff that's been going on around me. After next Saturday, I'll most likely be able to write more freely, so hopefully, the number of words will get better! Thanks for reading! See you later everyone.**


	6. Morning Office

**A/N: Sorry for being so late, my readers. As I have forewarned, I was quite occupied by some very official exams on which my future somewhat fatally depended. After that, I thought I would do better, but obviously when one is done with such a big section of life, either he or she tends to prefer playing over any kind of productive activities (i.e. writing). I'm greatly ashamed that I have succumbed to the same lazy tendency, and for that, readers, I owe you my apology. I am very sorry, sorry indeed.**

 **While I was gone, there were more reviews posted, and I just wanted to recognize them before I began the story. I thank all of you for your gracious amount of reviews, and I hope you'll continuously chastise and/or compliment me through the review function.**

 **Again, sorry for being so late. Happy July, everyone, and enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Hermione's eyes were enlarged. Was he a wizard? Was he one of those wizards that still classified people by their origin? Then again he did not know who she was, if he did he would have known who her parents were. Or… did he know who she was and approached her for that reason, with bad intentions, and was still pretending he was a muggle? Hermione backed out slightly, readying herself for defense if need be. She answered very carefully.

"They're both muggles. Why?"

But Percy flinched with innocent surprise at her answer, as if she just recited an incomprehensible spell.

"What? What's a muggle?"

"People without magic, of course! What did _you_ mean by who are my parents?"

"I meant their g—"

* * *

Percy stopped himself. If Hermione was not a demigod, then he could not reveal the mythological world to her. He suffered from it enough; she did not need to know about that messed up side of the world yet. He felt the need to tell her soon, but it was certainly not right now, when he was not even sure who she was.

"G? G, what?"

Hermione had one hand inside her robe and the other outstretched as if to guard herself from him. Percy had to come up with something quickly or something was going to go down really badly.

"I meant their g, _groups_! Like, like if you're a witch, then are your parents like Frankenstein or a vampire?"

Percy felt instantly stupid, but he had no other words he could think of at the moment. He was always the 'move first, think later' kind of person. He grimaced internally as his thought habitually reached for Annabeth but swept it aside. Meanwhile, Hermione was looking at him, perhaps finding it incredible that he was the same man she knew before. She woke herself out of the stupor and spoke slowly as if she was talking to a child.

"No, Percy. My parents are _not_ some Halloween characters just because I'm a witch. I mean, werewolves do exist, but Frankenstein is just a name of a person who created the undead being in the novel. It's not the actual name of the undead creature."

She sighed and grabbed her head with one head.

"Perhaps I overreacted."

Percy waited.

* * *

Hermione looked up with a sudden lack of anger.

"I guess I should tell you. Might as well get through with it."

If she messed up, and Percy was indeed an evil man, he could probably be easily obliviated and taken out, though it would make her utterly bitter about the life choices she makes these days. So she began.

"Witches and wizards aren't just subjects of Halloween. We do exist in a very serious way, just hidden from your view, and by that, I mean from _muggles_ ' view."

Percy was silent so she continued, trying to control her breathing.

"For example, perhaps the greatest wizard known to man, even among yourselves, is Merlin. We have an isolated community for ourselves, networking on our own, keeping the muggles in the dark so that the peace—" she hesitated, because _was there really a peace between them right now, even after all those years?_ "—may be kept and protected."

She breathed again, pausing for both an emphasis and a relaxtion.

"I'm a witch, and a quite famous one at that. There was a war between two forces of the magical society, and after serving in it, on the righteous side, that is, I became well known among our people, in fact, too much for the attention to be pleasant. The online post I was talking about last time, I actually meant a magical newspaper that took moving pictures of us two and published them on its front page. The mad photographers from before were, I'm assuming, paparazzis from other various media, trying to get the pictures of my privacy for money, so much that they didn't care if my newest love was a muggle or not. And now, here we are, _teleported_ , I should say, to my legal office to escape the cameras."

* * *

Percy was befuddled for many reasons. Clearly, the magical society of witches and wizards was something separate from the Greek mythology. Were they perhaps the descendants of the children of Hecate? If that was the case, it made sense that Hermione would not be aware of the godly heritage. But he was never the intelligent type and could not be sure. What he was more unsure of now was how to react.

Obviously, if he believed too easily, that would be suspicious, though truthfully, he just could not find anything much shocking. Then again, he could not pretend to be surprised as well. He was not a very good actor, at least when it was not a life-or-death situation. He clenched his eyes shut and massaged his temple with the palm of his hand. This was getting weird and weirder. He remembered Aphrodite's high pitched laughter in the dream. _Oh, this one's going to surprise you to no end!_

Percy could not say he was surprised, but Aphrodite did seem to keep her promise of making his romantic involvements complicated.

* * *

Hermione eyed Percy warily. He was hiding something, and she was sure of it, by the way he was not so surprised. In truth, he looked troubled or bothered more than anything. She really should not be suspicious of him, now that she promised to believe in the possibility of relationships, but it hit her just at that moment that she did not know his last name. _What have I been doing all this time, not even knowing his last name?_ Then it became scary. She was not scared of how much she did not know about Percy, but she was scared of her doubts. She needed to stop becoming suspicious. The immediate problem at hand was that the crazy paparazzi's have shown up in front of a muggle with their unordinary cameras. Now that she had explained some things, the vital things, to Percy, she only had to wait for the first few words of Percy to find out what she needed to do afterwards.

He began to speak in broken sentences.

"I, um, okay. Wow. I guess that explains... how we got here… And the stick," he pointed at it, which Hermione had taken out of her robe pocket during the talk, "you did use it like a weapon before, and, uh, okay. I, just don't know what to say."

He was nearly spluttering at the end, making Hermione want to cradle his head in her arms despite him being more than few inches taller than her. And maybe she had misjudged him entirely, because from the way he reacted, the hesitating words trying to make sense of things and the little frown on his face that struggled to stay little, clearly for Hermione's sake, he had to be innocent of any accusations Hermione had been building up in her mind. She felt ashamed, heat rising to her cheeks.

* * *

Percy could tell something deflated in Hermione. She looked suspicious, almost angry, and unwilling to back down. He assumed this to be her political personality, the kind she puts on herself for her career as a lawyer—or was she a lawyer? Surely, a witch's occupation could not be just a witch. Then after he stumbled through his words, trying to be honest with some of the initial thoughts that had passed through his mind, Percy saw Hermione become soft and blush, embarrassed. Maybe she thought he was disbelieving and found it foolish to have told him? He hurriedly continued, placing his hands on both sides of her shoulders.

"Hey, hey, look, whatever you've told me so far and whatever else you have to tell me now on, I _believe_ it and _will_ believe it. You can _trust_ me, Hermione."

Strangely enough, Hermione, looking into his eyes, let out of a sniffling laughter.

* * *

There was no restraint in that strange mixture of laughter-giggle and sniffling. Her eyes were watering from the earnestness she witnessed in Percy's eyes. Yes, she may not fully know him, but how could she have so easily doubt him, this adorable, sweet creature in front of her?

"No, it's not that, silly, though I am very very touched by your enthusiasm. It's just… Ugh."

She wiped the rim of her eyes in mock annoyance, the half-hearted frustration of her easy tears. Hermione looked down, keeping her eyes on the two pairs of shoes below her.

"I don't even know why I'm so tearful, but no, it's just that I thought that perhaps you were a traitor who was trying to trick me. And I felt so ashamed for even thinking so, when, from even that short amount of time we've spent together, I knew you could not possibly be that kind of treacherous man. You're actually exactly contrary of it. I knew it, yet—"

Two hands grabbed each side of her face, thumbs gently pushing her cheeks upward, and suddenly she was looking into Percy's great storming depth of eyes. When he spoke, however, the voice, though low, was soft, a near whisper, a breeze through her jumbled mind.

"Hermione, hey, look, I'm okay."

She caught herself breathing again. Percy's eyes were still very on her own.

"What I _am_ worried about, though, is _you_. Are _you_ okay?"

Hermione struggled to speak up. She managed to make a sound but not so elegantly as she stuttered a bit. It was all she could do to stop herself on that verge of full tears.

"Wha, what do you mean?"

Percy was patient, his eyes becoming less tense, more tender and affectionate, and his fingers stroked her face with gentle attention.

"I mean, I'm worried about you having to worry about things like 'traitors'. You said you were in a war, about which I can't say much since I don't know the whole story, but seeing that you have to doubt things in your life that you shouldn't have to, it concerns me."

There were two conflicting thoughts at that response. The first one and the immediately swelling emotion that came with it was amazement. How Percy managed to care for such thing at this precise moment when she had just revealed that she was a witch and that she was considering him as a man of preposterous character was beyond her. It was thoughtful that he oversaw everything she despised of her own personality and instead concerned for her. It was like his mind was wired differently than other people, set to focus on certain things with only selfless intentions. Hearing concern in place of rage that she actually expected to hear, Hermione thought there simply could not be a lovelier man than Percy on earth, at least, at the moment. The care he took for her was something she never really experienced from another. Even Ron or Harry, be they in his place right now, would have been maddened by the secret she kept from them and even more by the attitude she had about them, though it would be a righteous anger, of course, and Hermione would have understood.

The other thought was not easily describable but was some sort of incredulity. As much as she hated herself for it, Hermione was not able to stop herself from wondering _how_ exactly Percy could overlook the fantastical story she had just told him, how he seemed to look as if he was used to such tales of the supernatural. The annoying nagging at the back of her mind kept pushing and pushing, trying to gain some votes on validity, and peppered Hermione's mind with doubt again. She was unwilling to give in this time, unwilling to actually accept the re-rising doubts that perhaps Percy really was an evil wizard in disguise. She schooled herself and chided her mind for being so weak. Instead of letting herself ask and confirm if Percy was really nothing at all like Death Eaters, Hermione hugged Percy, allowing his arms and body to wrap around her in nice blanketed warmth.

Percy only wordlessly patted her back in slow rhythm while stroking her head with another hand.

* * *

To Percy, whether she was a long descendant of Hecate or another completely different type of mystical being did not matter. After all, he wasn't one to judge, what with the hideous life he had to live. But with the anxiety he saw in her, he truly sympathized. He had no idea what 'war' Hermione was talking about, but he could see that it was making things difficult for her as it did for him. He ached for her because he knew how it felt to have death so near and hovering, how retreating a figure one becomes after facing the horror of it all. He knew Hermione to be a strong woman who can protect herself, and had been protecting herself so far, against the world, but by experience, he also knew that living under such a continuous paranoia tends to put one in a dire condition, for both body and soul, in the end. So he just held her close to him, never caring about anything else but her. Aphrodite's, or the Fates', or whoever else's mighty scheme to make his (and in this case, also Hermione's) life a complication could wait. He was a demigod, and she was a witch. So what? He loved her, and his priority lied with hers.

* * *

After that special moment, Hermione and Percy spent some more time talking things out. Sharing stories (but necessarily not all stories for Percy) and drinking tea, which, to Percy's astonishment, Hermione prepared through the flick of her wand, the two calmed down a bit. Soft smiles appeared again on their lips, and the stares locked on to each other with tenderness. At least, they did until there was a pop and Harry stood there, paled and sweating.

* * *

"'Mione, you alright?!"

Harry almost shouted his question of concern, his eyes fixed on the now rejuvenated Hermione. She seemed tranquil at the moment, unperturbed by whatever mess she was involved in that he had heard about in the office this morning. She offered him a small smile and answered him after sipping what seemed to be tea from her mug.

"Yes, I'm quite alright, Harry. Thank you."

Harry then realized that another person was sitting across Hermione. It was that man, Percy. He offered the same small smile, though somewhat more meekly, and waved his hand at Harry.

"Hi, we meet again."

Harry stood there, holding his hat and wand in his hands, not knowing what to say.

"I, um, was just—"

Hermione rescued him from foolishness.

"I've told him. He knows."

"Ah. If that's so..."

Harry eyed Percy, trying to see what had been changed since their last meeting, but to his relief and also a bit of confusion, Percy seemed normal, meaning he did not seem troubled by any of it at all. Before Harry could advance on Percy to interrogate him, however, Hermione interfered and asked.

"How did you find out?"

"Sorry, what?"

Hermione shook her head, endearingly so, as if she was his mother.

* * *

"I meant, how did you find out about this morning so quickly?"

As far as Hermione knew, Harry was an Auror, yes, but he was not entitled to every magical affair in the city. It's been perhaps an hour or so since the incident, and since the photographers would likely start using the photos they have taken tomorrow for the morning neswpapers, she had no idea how Harry was able to find out about the disturbance so fast. Harry let out a short 'ah, that,' with a nod and answered her.

"There was some commotion among the employees when I walked in, and from there it wasn't so hard to find out that a couple of obliviators were needed to get rid of the memories of a few muggles who had witnessed strange people surrounding your place with antique-ish cameras. Apparently one obliviator wouldn't do because of all those smartphones these days."

Hermione scoffed.

"They do really need to catch up if they're that desperate to protect themselves."

Harry frowned.

" _They_? Since when did you line yourself away from this?"

Hermione glanced toward Percy who was trying his best to not fidget his fingers ( _this adorable man_ , she thought). She was hesitant to become so political in front of him, more so since he was just introduced to this side of the world. Nonetheless, she looked back at Harry and made her point.

"It's nothing like 'since'. And by 'they', I meant those who still can't quite accept the need of adaptation. It's been _years_ , Harry! Years since we've risked ourselves to bring end to bigotry and begin a change! Yes, people are doing what they can, but you know yourself that those who needed to change the most have _not_."

Harry cringed at her last word. Hermione knew that Harry was used to her speech enough that she was challenging him with an undeniable opinion. Perhaps she was being too cruel to a friend who had only come to see her well, but she still continued.

"Tell me who's still refusing to change the process of obliviation. And who still refuses to change the history book about muggle inferiority. Tell me who's still trying to just pass through the past abuse and never repent, prone to repeat the same hatred in the future! Tell me, Harry, who!"

Harry bit his lips and kept his silence. Hermione sighed and nodded slightly.

"I thought so. And I'm sorry you work for them."

* * *

The mood was unbearably solemn for Percy at the moment. From what he could gather through Hermione's little outburst just then, it seemed the magical people did not like the nonmagical ones, or at least being known to them. He knew he should not be quick to judge, but the wizarding community sounded like a big jerk, lording over the 'muggles' or whatever the non-wizarding folks were called. Hermione, Percy assumed, was angry with the unnecessary superiority, which in turn made him mull over his own situation. The demigods and the gods themselves stay hidden from the mortals but not because they were of lower status or strength. It was to protect them from seeing the life threatening things, mainly monsters. In all honesty, Percy actually thought that there was not really a hard feeling between the godly and the mortals if the constant number of half blood children was any hint to go by. Something be problematic, it had more to do with the family values and virtues. Then again, the Titan War and the Giant War proved that there _are_ indeed forces that desire to trample lives they deemed insignificant. Percy sighed, unintentionally catching the attention of both Harry and Hermione. Hermione immediately spoke up.

"Sorry, we mustn't bore you, or... confuse you, whichever you'll take."

"No, you guys are fine. I... just see how complicated this all is."

Percy heard Harry mutter after him, _you can say that again_ , but merely responded with an awkward scratch on the neck. He sensed he needed to be away for the two to discuss things more openly, and of course, he had his own business to take care of before he could ever introduce Hermione to the Grecian world. It was time he paid a visit to the gods again.

"How about I leave you two to talk? As I've already told you, Hermione, I have something to do today too. I can finish that up quickly and come back while you guys go over—what needs to be gone over, I guess."

Hermione gave a pained smile but nodded along with Harry.

"Would you? I'm terribly sorry to bother you."

"I don't mind at all."

Percy offered his best reassuring smile and stood up, kissing Hermione lightly (for the sake of Harry) before walking toward the exit. Hermione called behind him.

"If you press down the lever on the right, it should open the door to the muggle part of the city."

He looked back, smiling, and waved an okay at her. He pressed down the lever, grimacing all the while, imagining the faces of the gods after so long. Although, they most likely had not changed at all. He was the changed one.

* * *

 **So, that was it! I hope you liked this long-delayed chapter! I assume things are a little jumbled here and there. Please don't hesitate to point things out to me! Thank you!**


	7. Beach Plans

**Disclaimer: I do not own things (perhaps the idea for the crossover, but that's just about it).**

 **A/N: I hope I didn't disappoint any of you with the last chapter. It might have been a bore for some of you to read, what with nothing spectacular happening and all. To be truthful, I'm practicing writing still, and my skills are not quite sharp yet, as you all can probably tell from what you read. I don't know if I'll ever be satisfied by my own writing, but I try my best to make it better. Writing this sort of crossover fanfiction is one way to practice, I found. I'm going through trials, figuring out what formats are the best for what kind of portrayal and such. In the last chapter, I tried to focus a lot on the emotions of the characters, and through that process, I was quite inconsiderate of the plot. I was planning to make this a pretty short piece, a work of ten chapters at most, but now I feel like I'm expanding it too far and unnecessarily so. From now on, I'll try to keep it down a notch and focus on the storyline more.**

 **And with that, here's the next chapter! Enjoy :)**

* * *

Percy chose to go to Brighton. He had to pull more money from his temporary bank account for the ticket, but he would rather travel to see his father face to face. The only beach he could remember from his tour guide pamphlet was Brighton, which the text described as Londoners' go-to vacation location for its proximity to the capital, only an hour away with train. So he bought a round trip ticket at the Victoria Station and mounted himself into the train. As soon as he sat himself down in one of the empty window seats, raindrops began to fall and make their marks on the window. Percy rested his chin with his right hand and gazed outside, his left fingers drumming rhythmically on the plastic table.

He almost regretted leaving Hermione's office in haste. He had no way of communication now. If Hermione begins to look for him and finds out she does not know how to, she would very likely become afraid, and he did not want to make her be afraid. He bit his lips decidedly. The conversation to come would have to be a quick one.

An hour passed more quickly than he expected, and soon he was sauntering down the hill of a street toward the sea at its foot. He could feel the salted breeze, the thick humidity from the moisture, and his lips curled into a grin. He missed all of it when he was staying in London.

When he arrived at the beach, its shore speckled with shiny pebbles, a familiar man was already waiting for him. Percy thought of kneeling, but that sort of formality was never necessary between the two. Instead, he chose to approach him, still keeping a distance, however, and bow his head in greeting.

"Father."

The man in front of him chuckled, somewhat wistfully, in response.

"Never thought I'd hear _you_ call me that."

Percy smiled bitterly.

"You and I both know we can't do 'dad' anymore."

Poseidon sighed and turned to face Percy.

"Quite right."

The sea god had not changed at all, as Percy assumed before. His wavy hair and beard were still black, and the attire was the same Hawaiian shirt with khaki fishing shorts, complemented with flip-flops. He had the typical fatherly affectionate smile gracing his lips, but it seemed a bit more tired now.

"Does this mean you're ready to come back, son?"

Percy bit his lower lip before replying.

"It's not like I was ever left alone."

Poseidon dropped his head, disappointment apparent on his face. Percy let out a breath and quickly continued to appease his father.

"But if you meant, will I accept this world again, my answer is that I'm considering it."

The god nodded his head, understanding and appreciating his son's subtle opening. He looked up and observed Percy's face.

"You know, I've missed you. You've grown more during those 2 years."

Percy offered a pacified smile at that. Then Poseidon's tender eyes hardened.

"Percy, tell me why you're here."

Percy pursed his lips and began with difficulty.

"I… have come across someone… recently."

To his surprise, Poseidon snorted.

"Aphrodite has revealed as much."

It made Percy blush, but he continued.

"Yes, and regardless of how, I fell for her, only to find out today that she's as extraordinary as I can be."

"And?" remarked Poseidon with one raised eyebrow. It was obvious he was enjoying his son's flustered state.

"And… I have come to seek permission to reveal myself to her, as she has done for me."

Percy refused to meet his father's eyes lest he would disclose something preferable as a secret. Soon, he was glad that his head was lowered because what Poseidon said next made him scowl.

"I regret to say this, but I cannot give you permission, Percy. Only Zeus, with the agreement of the council, can. And I don't recommend that what with its number of steps to follow. It'll take forever, and even if you succeed, I'm not sure if Zeus will allow you."

Percy gritted his teeth.

"Suppose she's 'special' like me, than what?"

"What do you mean _special_? If she's a fellow demigod, you don't need permission."

"..."

"Percy?"

"I think—and this is really _just_ my thinking—that she could be long descendant of Hecate."

Poseidon's brows furrowed at Percy's last remark.

"What makes you say so?"

Percy hesitated. Was it his place to reveal anything about Hermione?

"She… uses magic."

Poseidon waited for more, but when none came, he sighed and shook his head.

"That is worth an investigation, I guess. But it'll take some time for me to do that without my brother's noticing. You must give me some time, Percy, and meanwhile, you _must not_ disclose yourself, not too hastily. Is that a deal?"

Percy nodded.

"Deal."

* * *

Hermione sat somewhat anxiously on the seat in her office. After a very heated conversation with her, Harry had left to attend to his own business. He was an Auror, after all, and all faithful, diligent Aurors were always burdened by piles of work from morning to evening, or at least so Harry said. Now she was waiting for Percy's return. It had been almost two hours, and the man she loved was nowhere to be seen or heard. It was just then she realized that she was not aware of Percy's contact information, no phone number or email or anything. _Another mistake_ , she cursed to herself.

While she did get to work on some of the important court cases while she waited, for a good amount of time, Hermione paced around in her office, waiting. Perhaps Percy had run away, only had pretended to be alright with the wizarding mess? No, he was a calm, accepting person when Hermione talked to him about it all. Or was it the politic talk that frightened him? He did leave as soon as the conversation took a biting turn. Hermione bit her nails, chastising herself for maddening so in front of Percy. But she really could not help herself when she was facing a tasteful argument like that.

After another half an hour or so, there was knock on the door. Hermione, who had given up on worrying and was flicking through a package of case papers, carelessly replied, "come in."

It was her assistant witch, a recent graduate from Hogwarts with the freshness of a beginner brightly lit on her face. Rose Muylor was the name, if Hermione remembered correctly (she knew she did but nonetheless). Rose's cheeks were colored, and the girl herself looked quite flustered, as if she witnessed something scandalous and knew not what to say. Hermione sighed.

"Yes, what it is?"

"It's, um, you have a visitor…"

Rose finished her statement like a question, unsure if she was right to call the person a visitor. Hermione, confused, asked back.

"I don't have any appointments today, do I?"

"No, no, you don't, Ms. Granger. It's, uh, your, your… _sir_."

Hermione stared at Rose who decidedly refused to meet her eyes. Only seconds after she realized what Rose was talking about. Percy.

* * *

It was as amusing as it was painful for Percy to watch Rose speak to Hermione in her office. The girl obviously had read that newspaper's headline about Hermione and him and was having an extremely difficult time finding words that would not offend her boss. When she struggled and finally came up with a 'sir,' Percy really had hard time restraining himself from snorting out a laughter. But soon, Rose popped out of the office, followed by Hermione's hurried footsteps, he no longer needed to restrain a smile. Hermione exited the door, and her eyes widened at the sight of him. She rushed toward him, uncaring of Rose's ever pinkening cheeks, and hugged him tightly.

"Where were you?" She whispered, her concern apparent.

"I'm sorry to have worried you." He pulled out from the tight embrace and pecked a kiss on her nose. "I forgot that I don't have a phone."

Hermione, though responding to his nose peck with a kitten like behaviour, affectionate and cuddly, frowned at his remark.

"You don't have a phone?"

Percy thought he was seeing a lot of incredulity from Hermione as of lately. He nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah, not a real tech person."

Then there was a disturbed coughing, perhaps a clearing of throat, and Percy found red-faced Rose eyeing them. Hermione, noticing as well, hopped out of the embrace in a very sudden, embarrassed manner. She cleared her throat as well, maintaining her disinterested face before proceeding to talk to her assistance.

"Thank you, Rose," she turned to Percy, "why don't we talk in my office?"

Percy grinned and nodded again. As he followed Hermione into the office, he witnessed Rose fanning herself madly with her hand and let out a chuckle, which in turn made Hermione turn around to look at him with an amused smirk.

"What are you laughing about?"

"It just seems that you've got a real nice assistant."

Hermione wore a sly grin on full force now as she almost seductively approached him. Hermione stood right in front of him, her hand on his chest, snaking up to his shoulder. Heat rose in him, and percy sneaked a look at the door to see if it was closed. It was. Hermione spoke slowly in a low whisper.

"Are you complimenting another woman in front of me?"

Percy cleared his throat nervously. He had not seen such a voluptuous side of Hermione yet, and it made him almost too weak to stand on the legs.

"Of course not, I wouldn't—"

Then Hermione pressed her lips on his, and they engaged themselves into a passionate kiss for a long while. When their face finally came apart, Hermione's eyes were a bit tearful.

"I thought, I might have scared you with all of… that."

Percy planted a chaste kiss on her forehead.

"I'm sorry I scared you, but no worries, I've seen worse."

At that, she looked up at him again.

"What do you mean 'worse'?"

Percy cursed himself silently but quickly improvised.

"I mean worse things to imagine happening. For example, I would much prefer you being a witch than a serial killer or something."

That made Hermione laugh and tease him lightly.

"And would you have stopped loving me if I _were_ a serial killer?"

Percy pondered for a second before reciprocating Hermione's grin and answered.

"No, I can't say I would."

* * *

Throughout the week, Percy stayed with Hermione, having checked out of the inn he was staying at previously, and accompanied her to her work (she apparated them both each morning, in fear of another paparazzi shot). While Hermione finished her hours at work, he would entertain himself with the magical newspapers and their moving photographs. Then when the work was done, the two would walk home together through muggle streets, arms linked together, and if not, their hands clasped together. There were owls flying in the office frequently, which Hermione explained as the wizarding world's post service, and a lot of the messages had rude and invasive questions about the recent turns of Hermione's private life. Percy gladly threw them into the fireplace for her.

Friday, on their way home, when they were passing the market street near Hermione's place, Percy recognized a woman approaching from the opposite direction. She was cloaked in purple with golden jewelries and smiled mysteriously as her eyes met Percy's. Hermione sensed Percy's tensed body and looked at the woman confused.

"Do you know her?" She whispered.

Percy barely answered on time.

"Sort of."

The woman stopped in front of them. Percy found it so odd to see her carrying a basket full of grocery items like a mortal, looking casual as if she strolled through the street like that every day. The smile was still there when she began to speak.

"Hello, Perseus. Fancy seeing you on this part of the globe."

She spoke in a perfectly elegant posh accent, catching Percy off guard. He had to really try not to kneel and greet the goddess. Instead he bowed as he did for his father with stiff lips.

"Pardon my informal greeting."

Hecate smile did not faded so Percy considered it a safe line. She glanced at Hermione briefly.

"No worries, the circumstance is understood."

Meanwhile, Hermione was looking mildly annoyed at the appearance of a strange woman and her interaction with Percy. Percy squeezed her hand in his to reassure her in the best way possible. He had talked to his father and guessed that Hecate had come to talk to him about it all. But could she not have just talked to him through a dream or something? Did she really have to appear in front of Hermione like this?

"What brings you _here_?" He asked carefully to not sound impertinent.

"Obviously on my daily duties," Hecate gestured to her basket, which Percy assumed was just her cover for Hermione, "but seeing you here, I feel I should give you some answers to what you've asked before."

He almost sarcastically snapped back, "So soon?"

Hecate, however, unlike the other impatient, tempered deities, maintained her smile, almost endearingly at this point. She spoke to Percy as if he was her tantrum throwing nephew, which truthfully he might as well could be.

"Now, don't be like that, Percy. I had to be careful to not be spotted by your _uncle_."

Percy now understood why she had to appear as another mortal figure and why it took her a while to get back to him. Zeus' temper was not a secret in the Grecian world. He sighed and nodded.

"My apologies. I'm not used to waiting, I think. So? The answer?"

Hecate pulled an envelope out of her basket and handed it to Percy.

"I _happened_ to have it with me. I'm afraid it won't be too pleasing for you."

Percy grunted, already knowing what she meant, but Hecate gave him a mischievous grin.

"But _accidents_ always happen, don't they?"

She winked at him, saying so. Percy did not yet know what that was supposed to mean, but he figured he would discover the significance once he read the letter. Hopeful again, he looked at Hermione, who was now clenching tightly on his arm and nearly glared at the goddess before her. He looked back at Hecate, letting out a relaxed smile.

"Thank you, my L—"

Hecate stopped him before he could.

"No need for that, Perseus," she nodded at both him and Hermione, "good day."

After that, she easily strolled past them, continuing the path that Percy and Hermione had walked away from until she met a corner and disappeared into it. Percy looked down at the envelope in his hand and put it gently in his pocket. Hermione let out a scoff.

" _Perseus_? You've never told me Percy was short for Perseus!"

By now, the two had properly introduced themselves to each other with their last names and all. Percy did not bother to tell her the origin of his name, not ready to give away a possible hint on his side of the world. It was a risk. So he smiled gently and replied teasingly.

"You've never asked."

"Well, I do know another Percy and didn't really think it as odd." Hermione admitted somewhat sheepishly, making Percy chuckle. But then she stopped and turned her head toward him fiercely.

"Who was that lady?"

Percy scratched his head.

"She's… a family." He concluded.

"You had a relative in London? Is that why you were here in the first place?" Hermione asked, her eyes twinkling with curiosity.

Percy sighed. "Yeah, I was sort of on a vacation, and our family… they're a little peculiar. I wanted to check with some of them about seeing you, and I guess my father got her to tell me what they've said."

It was hard being ambiguous, but Hermione had yet stopped asking questions.

"Wait, so who was that lady to you, and why does your uncle matter? Does your family not allow you to choose whom you meet?"

"Whoa, Hermione, breathe. I'll tell you, just breathe."

Hermione blushed and mumbled, "sorry," which Percy found too much to hold in from and kissed her on the cheek, making her giggle.

"That lady was… something like a great aunt to me, and my uncle… ha, he's a hard one to describe truthfully. If I did, I may be smitten by lightning just this moment." Hermione giggled not knowing how literal he was being. "As for my family, it's a little bit complicated. Well, it's actually really really complicated." Hermione tilted her head in curiosity, her eyes asking _why so?_ He readied himself to make a decent analogy. "In my father's side of the family, there is this kind of a hierarchy. My father and his two brothers are like really high important people. Because I'm my father's son, they're always extra careful and sensitive about my affairs."

At this point, they had arrived at the house, and Hermione needed to get the key out. She spoke as she pulled it out of her bag.

"Wow, that sounds much like a TV show," she unlocked the door and looked up, "don't tell me you're some kind of a royalty now, are you?"

Percy laughed as he followed her into the house, closing the door and locking it.

"I don't think I'd have an easier life, but I'll take a royalty over this whatever right now."

Hermione giggled with him. She pecked a kiss on his lips before she took off her robe.

"I'm going to wash first, if you don't mind. And don't think I'm going to let go of this interesting story! Prepare yourself!"

Percy laughed and shouted "alright!" as Hermione entered the bathroom. It gave him time to read Hecate's letter so he sat down in the dining area and opened the envelope.

* * *

 _Perseus Jackson,_

 _Poseidon's approach was a surprise, but it was a pleasant one._

 _To your concern, my answer will be only half satisfying, I'm afraid._

 _The witches and wizards are indeed very long descendants of one of my most powerful child._

 _I cannot tell you the name, but he was a god who willed himself to become mortal._

 _Of course, his magic was simply too strong to stay only with him, and it was passed down to his children._

 _Unfortunately, the current community of witches and wizards are quite separate from us, regardless of its origin._

 _Zeus would certainly never forgive you for intentionally inviting a 'threat' to the Greeks._

 _Yet, things_ can _be excused as mistakes, as I know you'd be aware._

 _If some accident were to happen and you couldn't help but express your powers in front of your love, then who can blame you? You were only trying to protect your loved one from harm._

 _Think about it, and burn this letter with the envelope when you finish._

 _H._

* * *

Hecate's comment from earlier now made sense. If he revealed himself in an accident to save people, then Zeus could not really punish him for doing some good. There also was Mist to blame for. Other mortals would not get through the Mist, but Hermione certainly would. And exactly how many times did Zeus himself fall for clear-sighted mortals? His own father met his lovely mother, the clear-sighted, and had him. It would be most convincing.

* * *

Percy found a match from the drawer and took it to the balcony with the envelope. He lighted it and burned the envelope, letting the amber pieces fly off and disappear into the air. Purple smoke appeared and wrapped around the air where the letter's pieces flown off to, and when it cleared again, any hint of burnt envelope was gone, even the smell. Percy smiled and waved 'thank you' to the air.

Now his only concern was finding a way to accidentally show himself. Perhaps he could take Hermione to Brighton, pretend to carefreely play around until some sea creature smells his scent and attack them. That sounds pretty solid considering it just popped out of his head. It was Friday, too. A weekend trip would be a perfect suggestion.

* * *

When Hermione exited the bathroom, steam from the hot water following behind her, curling around in the air, she found Percy grinning all goofy and hugging her, planting plenty of kisses on her (which made her blush furiously because though they already spent several nights together she was still shy to be in his arms while she was naked under a towel). When he finished the loving gestures, he shouted.

"Let's go to the beach!"

* * *

 **So there's that, my readers! Please leave a comment on how you found this one!**


	8. Burger and Sandwich

**A/N: I apologize to everyone for my tardiness, 5-month tardiness, to be precise. My sincerest apologies, my readers.**

 **I don't like to make excuses, but to offer an explanation for the tardiness, I have been very** _ **very**_ **swamped. I thought my trials as a student will pass upon the end of the semester (Fall 2017) since the new semester (Spring 2018) was to be my last and** _ **I thought**_ **I didn't care how I do during my last semester. I was going to graduate and that was it. BUT as life often does, I became involved in way more things than I should have been, and things didn't go as smoothly as I had planned. Now, here's a rant, so you can definitely skip down to the main story, but I just feel the need to scream and shout about the injustice of life I had to go through past 5 months - and where else but here, anonymously online?**

 **I had been an editor of one of our school's literary journals. I was actually a co-chief editor.** _ **The**_ **chief editor of our magazine graduated in December and then suddenly went off the grid before she properly delegated anything to the us the remaining staff members. We had to start again from scratch, which was, believe me, an extremely painful process. At the same time, I had to prepare for impending conventions and conferences. I was forced to juggle all that with my regular school work, and the fact is that I was always sleep deprived and had no strength to work on this piece.**

 **However, I've graduated now, and for 2 months - before I return to school for another program - I will do my best to work on this piece, to complete it, mostly. I really do appreciate every one of you readers who have come and checked out my work (and liked it!). Again, I am really sorry to have disappointed a lot of you, and I will strive to keep up to my promise!**

 **Thank you for reading through my apology and complaint, and now here's the story I owe you all!**

* * *

Hermione sat across Percy and observed his somewhat distant, pensive face looking out the window. The train charged forward with that ever rhythmic bounce on the rail, and the transparent greenery outside reflected on his skin like streaks of paint. The green of his eyes blended right with it. Hermione took a moment to admire them properly before she finally opened her mouth.

"So… Is there anything else I need to know about you, _Perseus_ Jackson?" She drawled his given name, wriggling her eyebrows at him.

The approach was meant to be humorous, but Percy visibly flinched and avoided her eyes, clearly disturbed by something - either the question or the brow wriggle. Likely the former, Hermione thought.

"That looks like a yes." Now curious more than anything, Hermione pressed on. "Well, you know I'm," she looked around, then leaned in and whispered, "a witch." She moved away again. "You can trust me to believe most things you'll say. I guarantee my tolerance level is quite high. Nothing's been as incredible as magic, you know, unless you can prove it otherwise?"

Percy's lips broke into an endearing smile, but the nervous edge was still there. Hermione noticed how his fingers fidgeted, a part of Percy's thinking process, she had learned. So she left him in silence for a few minutes to collect his words for an answer.

* * *

The first part of the plan was playing out fairly well for Percy. He had blurted out Brighton as the recommended location of their excursion only because it was the only familiar place he could think of. Also, Poseidon had visited him there. The sea god could perhaps offer an assistance by sending some monsters their way. Hermione did not question his choice, and that was that. Percy assumed it should take Hermione's mind off of his history at least until they reached the beach and he could properly reveal himself to her, but unsurprisingly, he was wrong. Hermione was a clever woman who does not forget her questions. It also probably did not help that he hesitated to answer. He did not like to lie to Hermione. Not when the truth was so close, so near for her to see. He strained all his nerves to find a way around lying, an answer he could later come back to and say, 'well, _technically_ , I was telling the truth, only partly.' He could already imagine Hermione's snorting at his antics.

"I can't say no. But I'd like you to know that I never intentionally hid things from you. They just… were never necessary to be told."

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, don't you think it's about time then? I think it's quite unfair you know the most critical secret of mine, and I don't about you."

Percy pursed his lips, nodding his head while keeping his eyes on Hermione. He watched the curls of her hair slip out of the hold behind her ear. She was beautiful, he realized every day. She met his gaze with her own, but it looked a bit dejected. Hating her looking so, Percy spoke up.

"I know. I know, and I'm sorry. But give me just a little more time, _please_. I promise you'll know everything. Soon."

Hermione's features softened at Percy's last plea, and she slowly bobbed her head in acceptance. "Soon," she repeated.

And in mutual silence the two mulled over their own thoughts until the train arrived at their destination.

* * *

The couple walked down Queens Road hand in hand. The silence still enveloped them, and though it was not hostile in nature, Percy needed to get rid of it. He looked around for a possible topic for conversation, and his distracted mind soon found something: giant, swirly meringue cookies. They were displayed in small buckets and on ceramic plates behind the glass window of a small vintage bakery cafe. They were not blue, but their crude shape and bigger than usual size reminded of his own mother's version of the cookies. Without realizing he did, Percy stopped in front of the display and stared at them, his mind already drifting to those moments when Sally Jackson-Blofis would open the oven and pull out a pan full of light blue meringue cookies with a kind smile gracing her lips. Sally Jackson-Blofis from the times past and gone.

* * *

Percy did not move for a good while, and Hermione began to worry. She first thought he simply wanted to get some of the meringues, but as his eyes soon lost their focus, she saw his thoughts departing from their sphere. There was a glint around the edges of his eyes, too, that Hermione could only assume as the emerging tears. When she found that Percy was taking too long to come awake, Hermione carefully placed a hand on his arm.

"Percy?"

As soon as her voice left her, Percy shivered and backed away from her instantly, and their barely connected hand and arm separated again, leaving Hermione's hand suspended in midair. Milliseconds later, life returned to the green orbs, and Percy startled awake only to discover the distance between him and Hermione and their rather awkward stance. He hastily moved toward Hermione and grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry! I, I don't -"

"What happened, Percy?" Hermione heard her own voice leave through her lips and cut through the air like knife. She hoped that she did not sound too cold. She was not upset, just worried.

There was a moment of hesitation, but soon enough Percy released a sigh of resignation and glanced back at the meringues.

"This… happens sometimes. I get 'triggered,' I think, by some objects that remind me of… _things_."

That sounded awfully similar to post traumatic stress disorder symptoms of her and her former comrades after the war. Hermione pursed her lips tightly but said nothing as she only nodded to encourage him to continue.

"My mom used to bake these cookies before; only they were blue." Percy's frown deepened as he said.

Hermione sensed that something sounded off about the statement. _My mom used to bake…_ It was in past tense. Her fingers gingerly stroked Percy's hand that grabbed so desperately onto her own, his knuckles white. She decided to venture. Carefully.

"What happened?"

The question was identical to the one before, but it was not. Her voice left her like a breath of air, and she knew it had landed on him softly when Percy turned his sorrowful eyes toward her, revealing as much as he could without words.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Percy dipped down his head, but a slow chuckle rose from his now unseeable face, shaking his entire body as it did. He looked up with a sad smile, tragic yet beautiful.

"She's not dead, or anything." He explained but looked away again. His grasp tightened around Hermione's hand. "Remember what I said about my father?"

Hermione nodded slowly. She was speechless. Percy looked so devastated and distraught, so broken.

"Well, being his son is not only complicated but very dangerous. I… brought many risks to my mom. You see, she even once married one of the vilest men that ever existed on earth, suffered his abuse, just so that she could protect me. Now she is remarried, happily, and has a precious new child." Percy smiled, "she is so small and funny, that kid." His expression darkened quickly, however. "I, I couldn't ruin her happiness, not when she has already gone through so much because of me. I had to leave."

Suddenly, a gust of cold winter sea current hit them both and nearly smothered the gasp that inevitably escaped her upon hearing Percy's tale. As he embraced her in a shielding gesture, Percy raised his wrist with his watch.

"It's almost noon. We should probably find a place away from this blasting wind where we can have lunch. What do you think?" He glanced down at Hermione, almost nonchalantly as if he said no such things that he had just said. But Hermione saw the glint again and knew that he was nothing but nonchalant.

She nodded. "Yes, I'd like that."

* * *

They entered the nearest pub they spotted and took seats near the corner. Perhaps due to the severe wintry weather, the pub was near empty. Only a couple of others sat by the bar and murmured in what looked to be a serious conversation. A faint scent of cigar lingered, barely recognizable in the strong odor from the pub's ancient wooden interior. Percy and Hermione each ordered a burger and a grilled sandwich and waited in silence until something suddenly bugged Hermione. She repeated the phrase in her head: _she even once married one of the vilest men that ever existed on earth_... _Once_? She looked up at Percy, who seemed to have recovered from the event that had unfolded fifteen minutes ago, and decided to risk it. Damn her curiosity.

"There's something… I don't quite understand. If you don't mind, that is…"

Percy glanced her way, eyes a bit empty, disturbingly. "What is it?" He did not seem unhappy so that was a good start. Hermione pressed her hand on his knee as she continued, almost futilely trying to console him in whatever way.

"You said your mother 'once' married this vile man… You meant your father -"

"That man wasn't my father."

The sudden interruption startled her. She stared at him with widened eyes. "I'm sorry?"

Percy shook his head apologetically. "I probably explained poorly. _The_ father I've told you about is my birth father. BIological one. The 'vile man' and the man my mom remarried are both my step fathers. Well, I guess the latter is, but the former isn't, at least, not anymore."

At that, Hermione's brows joined together, forming a very apparent the crease between them. "Wait, I don't understand. Then how -"

"I'm sort of an illegitimate son." Percy quickly supplied.

An old man wearing an apron, who clearly owned the pub, walked toward them with a plate of food. Hermione's mouth was agape even as the man began to place the plates on the table and even as he muttered 'enjoy' and walked away. Percy picked up the silverware and offered a nervous smile her way.

"Your food's going to get cold."

Cold sandwich was nothing new to her, so Hermione stared on. How could he just blurt out such a thing and try to move on like it was nothing? Finally, Percy sighed and replaced the silverware. He cleared his throat once and then twice.

"It's not that big of a deal. It's actually pretty common in our world - bastard kids, I mean." He paused and grimaced. "That sounded pretty awful. Sorry."

* * *

His attempt at humor did not work, Percy knew. He could hear his own bitterness in the way he spat out the phrase 'bastard kids.' Then again, he was indeed bitter about his heritage, or rather what was entangled with it. The reasons why he was torn from his loved ones. Why they were torn apart. Why he was torn apart himself, into so many shreds. He then realized how stupid he had been. What difference would it make that Hermione was a witch and knew of magic? Learning his true identity will endanger her - and consequently the relationship between them - the same. Yes, he would hurt her. She had just learned to trust him, and he was about to through that trust away. Still, a broken heart was better than a non-beating one. Percy needed to end this on his term, an acceptable term for both him and Hermione, before he tore her apart as well.

"You know what? Today's not the day for beach. Wind is blowing really hard right now, and I think we might get caught in a really bad storm if we stayed any longer. Why don't we just go home?"

And a lot of what he said was true. The wind was nearly howling as it whipped through the streets and different objects outside tumbled down the road in chaos. Percy could feel the heavy moisture condensing above them. It was definitely going to rain soon. He wondered briefly as to whether the brewing storm was influenced in any way by Zeus or Poseidon. The former could have heard the 'bastard kid' comment and was now angered, and the latter could be simply trying to help Percy _accidentally_ show his abilities in front of Hermione. Neither mattered much at this point.

* * *

Hermione was remorseful. She did not think Percy's secret to be so terribly heartbreaking. Her much earlier comment about how his life seemed to resemble that of TV shows now felt very careless, and it must have wounded Percy, Hermione thought. She felt shameful of herself to have pried into his life likeso. The shame was still there, in fact, because even now her curiosity had not died away. Though Hermione was sorry, she was so very curious as to what made Percy's involvement in his family that dangerous. Did she have to reconsider her choice in man? Was Percy a member of mafia or of its sort? The cruel shadow of her own history with Death Eaters and their supporters resurfaced in her head, and she struggled to keep it away from affecting her.

Raising her head, Hermione watched Percy's fingers twitch on the table, not quite grasping the fork but also not quite leaving it alone. His eyes were fixed on the ketchup bottle in the middle, and Hermione caught a smell of ocean once again. She realized how it resembled the air outside, the salty breeze of Brighton, but Percy's scent was much more raw, untamed. That was when she noticed it. A prickle and another. Then another. Soon, her whole body tingled with the sensation of something she was most familiar with: magic, and it was erupting from the man before her. The humidity in air was revolving around him like tides, and the force that revolved them was just simply there in front of her, sitting unawares, expecting her opinion for his previous suggestion. Or _was_ he really unaware? Her old paranoia prodded again. _Stop. Stop. Percy had more than proven himself a good man. I will not give into these doubts._ Hermione told herself, scolding her weakness. She tried a little smile.

"That sounds good. But let's finish our food before we leave. We paid for them, after all. Afterwards, I can Apparate us out of here in seconds."

Percy cringed but nodded. "That could help, but I gotta say, I'm not looking forward to Apparating."

It made Hermione giggle a little bit. "It does take a while for one to get used to it." In her small fit of giggle she missed how Percy's face darkened a little at the mention of 'a while.'

* * *

"Where should we go? We still have the whole afternoon to ourselves." Hermione asked as they stepped out of the pub. The wind was gentler now but nonetheless bitingly cold. Percy wrapped his arm around Hermione, and they both began to walk back up Queens Road.

"I don't know, honestly. It's my first time in England. And I mean, to be _really_ here, you know, to enjoy being here. Do you have any recommendations?" Percy replied.

Hermione pondered for a moment before looking up to face him and answered, "Well, have you been to the National Gallery? It's got all kinds of things around it, and we could easily hop around from a place to another. Albeit there are going to tourists."

His hair ruffling by the breeze, Percy looked down and smiled with much fondness. "I haven't been to the National Gallery. Let's go there."

"Well, then," remarked Hermione cheerfully, glad to put the previous gloomy conversation behind them, "let's find a place where we can Apparate without being seen!"

Percy nodded to her suggestion but very soon tensed up by her side. Questioningly, she looked up and found him grimacing again.

"What's wrong?"

He groaned a bit in response, "just a bit of stomachache. Must be that burger. Do you mind if I stopped by the bathroom?"

Instantly Hermione's brows knitted together in concern.

"Of course, I'll look for a place we can Apparate. Take your time."

So they entered the Brighton station, and Hermione watched as Percy briskly walked away and disappeared around a corner before she herself began to search a good spot for discreet Apparition.

* * *

"Father." Percy bowed.

The sea god, his hair rippling like black stream and eyes glistening with the depth of ocean, nodded in acceptance of the address. He stood tiredly, one leg carrying more weight than the other. His lips were angled down wearily as well.

"Percy, I thought today was the day." He began. "What's happening, son?"

Averting his father's stare, Percy pursed his lips rigidly.

Poseidon sighed. "Don't tell me you're doing it again."

"Do what?" Percy asked, his eyes fleetingly looking up before diving down again.

"Blaming yourself. You've done it with Annabeth, your mother, and now _her_. Percy, you have to know they weren't your fault."

"Could very well be," Percy muttered. He paused for a while before continuing, "sometimes I wonder why I had even been born."

At that, Poseidon's eyes flared up, "Don't you dare go that length. You are a treasured child of mine, of your mother's."

"And I'm grateful that I received such treatment from you, unlike many others, but I do doubt whether the cost of being your son is worth it all. You _know_ the Fates will never leave me alone."

The last remark left Poseidon speechless, not so much from shock or anger, but from helplessness and defeat, as it was the truth. Fates would indeed never leave Perseus Jackson alone. Ever. Percy only bobbed his head at the following silence. Wordlessly, he bowed farewell to his father and left their corner, back to Hermione.

* * *

When Percy returned, he looked worn out. Hermione assumed that the burger he ate must have gotten him very badly. He still offered her a loving smile, and she returned it with the same kind of affection. She grabbed his arm as he approached near.

"You look awfully tired. Still sure you want to go to the Gallery?"

Percy nodded slightly, "yeah, I'm sure. Did you find a spot?"

"I did! Come on, over here!"

Hermione grinned excitedly as she tugged Percy toward the said spot, and Percy, chuckling, followed, both clueless that her Apparition magic was being vigilantly monitored.

* * *

 **A/N: So there's that! I hope you enjoyed it :)**

 **I know I've said before that I'd rather finish this story quickly, but when I thought about it, I realized how unprofessional that was. I decided that since I have the whole summer to myself, I should take as many chapter as I can to provide full experience of my take on this crossover to you, my readers. So, you might find this chapter plot-wise not so progressive. I tried to place more detail in the characterization in this chapter. I hope that didn't bug you too much!**

 **I'll attempt to write much and upload timely so that I can make up for my inexcusable belatedness! Thank you for leaving reviews and keeping up with this tale!**

 **DISCLAIMER (oops, almost forgot!): I do not own anything that was originally written by J. K. R. and R. R.**


	9. Confessions

**A/N: Hi, everyone! Thank you all for your reviews/favorites/follows; and special thanks to Stormwreckin for a quite detailed review ;)**

 **And without further ado, here's Chapter 9.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything first created by JKR and RR.**

Hermione had chosen a different corner with still the same darkness in the station. Holding hands and bracing themselves for the twist, push and pull of Apparition, they approached the corner where no one would see them, and soon they were being squeezed through an unfathomable space, traveling away. Seconds later their feet had landed in a shaded road with a thud.

"Where are we?" Percy asked, looking around in both sickness from the Apparition and awe of its convenience.

"Orange Street behind the Gallery," Hermione answered with a smile, "It's usually dark and less crowded at this point of time. Now, if we're going to-"

Before Hermione could finish, a group of darkly clad men, all with masked, unidentifiable faces, surrounded them. They all raised a wand in their hands in one practiced motion and aimed it at the couple before them. They had come prepared. Hermione, her war-worn instincts kicking back in quickly, pulled out her own wand immediately. She stole a glance backward to see that Percy had taken a pen out from somewhere and was holding it in his hand like one would a wand. She frowned at the notion but with the immediacy of the situation at hand could not quite place her suspicion down as she refocused her attention to the assailants.

"Who are you? What do you want?" She shouted.

A short and stout man, seemingly the leader of the group, stepped up a little more and growled out behind the white glossy mask, "We do not answer to you, _mudblood_!"

Having not heard such term in a while since the war, Hermione flinched but recovered quickly as she remembered the case files she had heard from Harry. She knew that these men must be related in someway to the neo-Death Eater movement that had been spreading recently. Quite a number of young, romantic wizards and witches, unaware of what Voldemort and his Death Eaters really idealized and how dangerous it all was, had become corrupted by the vague idea of wizarding prestige, she heard, but she did not realize how boldly they would act out. How she would become their next target.

She tried again. " _Why_ are you doing this?"

The leader among them spoke again, "Should have known your place, mudblood."

At the end of the remark, all members of the group raised their wand in motion of one clearly life threatening spell or another, each seemingly different, making it difficult for Hermione to come up with a counter spell. Hermione readied herself to shout _protego_ ; surely, a great dome of shield should protect her and Percy from most aggressive spells. But whilst she busied her brain so to come up with an exit plan afterwards, one of the members near her back, quite hidden from her view, quickly casted _expelliarmus_ , flicking her wand off her hand. Startled, Hermione let out a small cry as her wand landed near the foot of the group's leader. She tried to calm her mind and _accio_ her wand back, but the man before her had picked up her wand already and, almost cackling, broke it in half.

* * *

"NO!" Hermione shouted, her tears seeping out instantly. Percy watched, his own body as tense as hers, how the broken stick, which he knew was her wand, fall down in two pieces on the tiled road. He was not quite aware of what was happening, but he knew that they were under attack and that the best wielding weapon for Hermione had just been destroyed. He could feel sweat collecting in his fisted palms, his head gearing all the circumstances together to come up with his next moves. The leader, sensing Percy's presence, scoffed.

"I see you've chosen a company of your own kind. Predictable, aren't you? Well, now you know better than to..."

The leader went on for a little more while, and this interlude before the attack gave Percy just enough time to collect his thoughts and come up with a plan. He sensed a great amount of water nearby, if he accurately remembered his tourist leaflet, from the Trafalgar Square. He could possibly draw water from there, but it would also definitely draw the attention of the people visiting the attraction this weekend evening, which would be an unignorable number. But hopefully mist could mask it in some way because Percy was not about to sacrifice both his and Hermione's lives on saving the secret of the Olympians. Hermione sent a worrying glance his way, and Percy attempted to give his best reassuring smile, the sight of her giving him confirmation as to what he should do.

He dared not close his eyes in fear of giving advantage to their assailants but focused on that presence of water he felt near and tugged at it until he recalled that familiar sensation in his gut. Soon, a coiling length of water wavered near them, and both the assailants and Hermione let out various noises of surprise at the liquid hovering over them. Percy gripped on the control, one he hasn't relished in for so long, and waved it over the group of men surrounding him and Hermione, who just began to widen their eyes as the water rumbled above them, sweeping them off their feet and washing them away to the other end of the street. Some men tried to retaliate by throwing spells at the body of water, but it only absorbed the magic, unaffected at all, and chased the men according to Percy's control like missiles locked on targets. Somes tendrils that caught the men swirled them up and then dropped them, knocking them unconscious, and others simply punched the bodies randomly. In a minute, a lot of the attackers had Disapparated, and one of them even dropped his wand as he fled the sight by foot in haste. Percy quickly glanced around for any more threat he needed to take care of and after confirming none released his water back to the fountains. Somewhere away he heard amazed gasps, and Percy let out a sigh of relief, thinking that the Mist must have worked and the people out there saw an unexpected fountain show or something instead of flying glob of water. He turned around to look for Hermione, only to find her aiming a wand tip at him with shaking hands.

* * *

Hermione admitted that seeing her wand, _the_ wand she'd been using and trusting since the war, made broken right before her took quite a bit of her mentality to overcome. But she was not a war hero for nothing. Her survival instinct kicked in instantly. As the leader of the attackers began to ramble, she saw it as the distraction she needed. She knew she had become tearful and intended to use that against her enemies, to throw them off as she either cast a nonverbal spell or reach for her emergency Auror contact device, which would alert Harry that she was facing some kind of danger. She had stolen a quick glance at Percy, guilty and apologetic for letting him in such danger because of her. Strangely, he sent a small smile her way, seemingly unafraid, and Hermione only felt even more guilty as she assumed that Percy likely did not find the magical society too serious. She had only briefly explained what had happened concerning the war, but it was probable that Percy did not grasp the full solemnity of it all. She only wished to deliver him to safety before it turned too badly for them.

However, she soon found herself inhaling sharply with surprise as a body of water came above the group and enveloped them. Shortly, it began to crash into the attackers, pushing and pulling them away, hurling all around her. Hermione could not decide whether this unidentifiable magic was a threat to her or not but, figuring that she should get out of here while she was in its good grace, turned around to grab Percy and Disapparate. Then she discovered Percy's brows knitted together in concentration as his eyes rolled around, synchronized with the motion of the water, and his hands twitching with strain. It was _him_. _HE_ was controlling the water. Wandless. Then, for a moment, Hermione completely and entirely forgot the chaos around her, her mind panicking, _he knew magic! He'd been lying? Who, or WHAT was he, exactly?_ She had never heard of any sort of magic like that of what Percy was displaying at the moment.

Most attackers had been swapped away, and she eyed a wand on the floor that one of them must have dropped in their attempt to escape the magical force unseen ever before. She slowly approached it on the ground, careful not to disturb Percy or draw his attention, and picked it up, holding it and steadily aiming at Percy. He had just gotten rid of the water and was breathing heavily and glancing around. Eventually his head turned her way, and their eyes met, with which a palpable tension erupted between them.

* * *

"What are you?"

* * *

Fear was evident in her eyes, but also anger and hurt. Percy's chest tightened with guilt as he knew he had deceived Hermione one way or another. One part of his mind whispered that it was all good. He was going to reveal everything to her today anyway, wasn't he? And he had also decided that it would be better for Hermione to not be involved in his life, hadn't he? This was his chance, perhaps, to break away from Hermione. Let her know that it was not worth her time, after all.

"I-"

He began, but the shuffling near them from the other side of the street caught both of them alert. They both knew being seen by mortals, or _muggles_ , according to what Hermione had shared about her world, was a big risk. Before Percy could say anything, Hermione grabbed his arm and began Apparating again. Within seconds they were back at Hermione's place, both gasping for breath.

A lifetime seemed to have passed before either of them looked up and spoke again. Hermione had her wand leveled at Percy once more and landed her gaze very intensely on him, thirsting for some kind of understanding, hoping for a reason to trust him, Percy assumed.

"So?" She shakily resumed.

Percy slowly raised both his arms in surrender, thinking it best if Hermione could recognize that he is not posing any threat. He looked into her eyes and never once wavered or looked away. With caution he found his voice.

"I," he licked his lower lip, finding it too dry, and continued, his heart pounding as the truth was about to be revealed, "am a demigod."

As he had expected a little bit, Hermione's eyes widened with disbelief and let out an exhaling noise of something between frustration and incredulity.

"A _demigod_? What in Merlin's name are you talking about?"

Percy hurriedly explained, "An offspring between a god and a mortal. I'm sure you're familiar with Greek mythology, yes?"

That remark only widened her eyes more. Still, something had dawned her most evidently as her breath hitched, like a gasp, and she grabbed her mouth with her wandless hand. She muttered, "You've _got_ to be kidding…"

"No, Hermione, I'm not kidding. You've seen me. I've inherited my father's powers."

A moment of pause passed before Hermione whispered: "Poseidon."

And Percy grimly nodded. "Yes." His heart swelled with something between pride that Hermione knew her Greek mythology well and anxiety that she _really_ knew about him now.

"But that can't be - it's impossible, really-"

"Aren't you a bit impossibly magical yourself?"

Silence took over instantly. Percy waited, not to be understood (oh, he dared not dream that; he _had_ told himself he'd break away) but to be at least supportive. He needed to know whether Hermione was going to be alright or not, even if he knew the ending of this love story Aphrodite must be weaving may be tragic. Before him, Hermione inhaled and exhaled, and repeated the motion a couple of more times before she finally raised her head and gritted out a response.

* * *

It made all sense now, of course. _Bloody,_ bloody _Hell, Hermione_ , she scolded herself, quite harshly. Not that it was easy for her to believe that there was another whole new world of magic out there beside that of Merlin or that she should have known it, but still there were those moments that should have made her at the least doubt his identity. First, he was not particularly surprised by her magic-wielding community, and then there was that time when he nearly asked what was her "g-" which must have been something like "godly parent" or else.

Truthfully, her academic side was fascinated by this discovery of new realm. However, her less reasonable side, the emotional one, she hated to admit, was roaring with different feelings clashing with each other. She was hurt that he had lied to her. She was angry and sad and rather lost in what to do about it all. So in response, she simply went with a very restrained statement of the most appalling realisation for her.

"You've lied to me."

Percy at least had the decency to look ashamed at that. His eyes darkened with guilt, and he dropped his head with pursed lips.

"Well?" Hermione challenged with her eyebrow raised with frustration. "Haven't you anything to say to that?"

Slowly and apparently regretfully Percy raised his head once more and met her gaze. His eyes shone, and Hermione only realised seconds later that they were tearful.

"I… was afraid. Very, very afraid that, that I might…"

He bit his lip as if to swallow a flood of words that he may regret letting out. Watching him so, Hermione gently prodded.

"That you might what?"

The lip-biting did not stop, but Percy clenched his eyes shut. It seemed to take a strain for him to calm himself. Something personal, very deeply personal, matter it must be, Hermione thought. And after a seemingly eternal pause, Percy finally let go of his bitten lip and opened his eyes and resumed speaking.

"All my life, I've been moved around like a piece of chess because who I was, no, _what_ I am, and all those _Fates_ it entails. I thought I didn't have much choice, that I must follow the path already carved out for me, but only too late I realised that such naiveté hurt not just myself but so many others around me. And now I'm here, fleeing. Running away from those injuries I inflicted on other people." His eyes looked into hers somberly.

"When I," he gulped, "when I first saw you and spent the night with you, I didn't think it would last. It sounds bad, I know, but I didn't know how much I was wrong then. I fell for you. As rash as it sounds, I did. And when I discovered that that was what was happening, I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell you the truth or ask you to be part of my messed up life. It would only hurt you and anything good that's stemmed from you, from _us_."

* * *

Percy was aware that at this point he was just rambling. He never was good at argument or just any kind of conversation for that matter. He only hoped he had said enough to convey his point. His eyes clenched shut, his mind whirling in not knowing what to do next. But he did not need to figure out what he needed to do next as soon he felt his face becoming wrapped up with warmth from both cheeks. He met Hermione's eyes, still frustrated, he could tell, but also watery - sad.

"Percy, I've gone through a _war_ , for which I even had to cut ties with my parents, make them forget they ever had a daughter, so that they can be safe from the people who could kill them just so that they could get to me. My past has been all about getting rid of the people I love away from my life for their safety."

He opened his mouth to protest, but Hermione went on.

"And what do you think just happened? We were in a near-death situation because of ME, because of those men who wanted us both dead solely for my _blood_! For all its worth, I should be the one saying 'I'm ruining the relationship', not you."

That made him shut up. A bit. Her thumbs approvingly caressed his lips.

"Now, I'm not saying that I like the fact that you've hidden things from me, but don't you see? I understand, and I'm not scared, whatever threats you had to face because of your lineage. I've gone through it too, albeit on a different scale."

Her breath smelled of peppermint - how did that work? She landed her lips on his and though the kiss lasted only for a second he felt it on him for hours and years. He could not take his eyes off of her brown ones each like a pool of hot chocolate, sweetly reflecting him.

"Maybe it's time you stopped being scared too."

Percy's eyes widened. Perhaps it was true. It was probably why Annabeth had left. Because he could not get rid of his fear. He wanted to stay in New Rome, become concealed from the outside; he nearly put the world in demise by nosebleed, he might as well stay away from it all and save its troubles. Annabeth found herself better outside. He only succeeded in coming to hate himself in every possible route of thoughts. When his mom had given him the Zeus-proven ticket to London, she had said "sorry," and he had only hoped that she was not apologizing for birthing him. He only took the gift as he wished to stop being a menace to everyone. And even with this new relationship, he had one foot in and one foot out, ready to dash away from it, from _her_ , before he even knew whether things were going to go south or not. He thought himself, his life, pathetic before; now he _knew_ he was being pathetic. He didn't have to be.

He smiled a little, leaning into Hermione's hand and pressing his lips on her palm.

"Maybe it is." He said.


	10. Announcement

**Hi, dear readers...**

 **I'm sure this is not the chapter you all have been waiting for (and patiently, if you came to see the update).**

 **I apologize for being absent for so long. There were a lot of transitions going in my life (honestly, they're still happening now), and I couldn't really spare time or effort for any of my stories. But... I've been tardy before, multiple times, in fact, and it appears that it's a habit I cannot break just yet. I'm very sorry!**

 **I must confess that when I started this story, I actually planned it to be a one-shot that consists of just couple of chapters at most (did I mention that before?).** **Now that I have more chapters than I imagined (because that's what happens when one gets too ambitious regardless of her ability), I'm re-considering what I want to do for the story's ending.**

 **Originally, I was going to put up a poll, but to make it simpler, if any of you have ideas for the story's ending, please message me! I'll check back frequently to see your ideas. And, no worries! I'll properly credit you if I do use your idea! Frankly, you would be the reason the story will ever be finished, so you deserve all the credits! Just let me know how you would like this story to flow and where it should land!**

 **Once again, I'm sorry for the long absence, and thanks for waiting!**

 **Message me, please!**


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